澳大新語 • 2021 UMAGAZINE 24 51 人物專訪 • EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW Wang. ‘Compared to similar departments in Macao’s surrounding regions, our team is relatively small but very strong, with a good mix of Eastern and Western scholars and teaching experience.’ Macao has historically been a port connecting the East and the West. Over 400 years ago, the Jesuits arrived in mainland China via Macao, promoting East-West integration and interaction in culture, science, philosophy, and religion. Prof Wang researched once on the history of Western translation of Confucianism , and he told us that the name ‘Confucius’ was actually brought to the West through Macao. ‘I hope that with the expansion of our faculty team, Macao will become more of an “exporter”, rather than merely a “importer”, of philosophy and philosophical ideas,’ he says. Prof Wang also hopes to encourage more students to study philosophy. He says: ‘I hope that philosophy will achieve broader impacts in Macao, and will become more attractive and appealing to young people in the future.’ According to Prof Wang, philosophy has much closer relevance to our daily lives than we realise. ‘The teachings and the wisdom of those greatest philosophers, such as Confucius, Laozi, and Buddha in the East, and Plato and Aristotle in the West, are so profound,’ he says. ‘These old texts have existed for more than 2,000 years, and they are still widely read and never cease to inspire. This is itself a miracle, and it proves that philosophy is needed in modern life. To put it into perspective, how many texts written by contemporary author will continue to be read 10 or 20 years from now? Not too many I’m afraid, no matter how popular they are now. The teachings of those great philosophers are the gem of the collective cultural heritage of mankind. Of course, there is inevitably historical, linguistic, and cultural distance that makes them very difficult for us to learn today, and that is why we need to have a department of philosophy.’ Prof Wang says: ‘Philosophy teaches not only knowledge, but more importantly, different ways of thinking and an independent attitude towards life. Students of philosophy are more likely to have qualities that make them stand out from a crowd because they are trained to think and act more rationally, creatively, critically, and reflectively. Most importantly, they tend to seek a unique and independent understanding of life itself, and they also tend to maintain critical thinking. Every educated person needs to have a certain degree of philosophical literacy. More and more people are beginning to realise the importance of philosophy to their future life, and a good education in philosophy could provide learning and necessary training for future generations in the coming new age.’ A Philosophy Team Prof Wang joined UM in 2019 as the head of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. In 2021, he took on the new role as the associate dean of the FAH. He says the FAH has a strong faculty team that has achieved excellence in a variety of fields. ‘Take the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies for example. The department mainly focuses on East-West comparative philosophy, the history of Western philosophy, Chinese philosophy, philosophy of religion, and socio-political philosophy,’ says Prof 王慶節教授在校內講座上與學生分享哲學研究 Prof Wang Qingjie discusses philosophy with UM students 掃二維碼 觀看訪談片段 Scan the QR code to watch the interview
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTQ1NDU2Ng==