中國哲學成為哈佛大學熱門課程

繪◎馬豆子

中國哲學成為哈佛大學熱門課程

Chinese Philosophy Is Popular Among Harvard Students

繪◎馬豆子

Chinese philo so p h y h as become the third most popular course at Harvard University，behind Intro to Computer Science and Intro to Economics， according to the New York Times.

Michael Puett， a professor of Chinese history at Harvard University， said some ancient Chinese philosophy was embraced as "p h ilo so p h y o f life" b y Americans.

As early as 2006， when Puett was giving lectures on Chinesephilosophy， the course was already popular among students. The second time he offered the class the following year， the class was so full some students could only sit on the stairs and along the hallway①hallway 英 ［'h??lwe?］ 美 ［'h?lwe］n. 走廊；門廳；玄關. The class had to move to Sanders Theater， the biggest venue on the campus.

The related reports have shown that the number of students who choose to study humanities has decreased sharply in recent years. Thus， the popularity of the Chinese philosophy course is quite eye-catching.

During Professor Puett' s course， he requires students to closely read Confucius's The Analects， The Mencius， and The Daodejing and then put the teachings into practice in their daily lives.

A report from the Atlantic Monthly has shown that the Chinese philosophy can help 18 or 19 years olds reflect on how to grow into a good person and create a better society.

Not only has Chinese philosophy become popular in Harvard， but so too has the literature. The first complete translated English version②version 英 ［'v???（?）n］ 美 ［'v??n］n. 版本；譯文；倒轉術of "The Poetry of Du Fu"， which was published two months ago， is widely read by students there and Du Fu is referred to as "Oriental Shakespeare".

From philosophy to literature， ancient Chinese scholars are influencing young Americans.

據《紐約時報》報道，在哈佛大學，中國哲學僅次于計算機科學導論和經濟學導論，排在最受歡迎課程的第三名。

哈佛大學中國歷史學教授邁克爾·普鳴表示，一些中國古代哲學被美國人奉為“生活哲學”。

在2006年，普鳴開始向本科生傳授中國哲學概論時，課程就受到大量哈佛學子的歡迎。當他在次年第二次開課時，涌入的學生甚至只能坐在教室臺階上聽課，最后校方不得不將他的課堂轉移到校園內最大的場館——桑德斯劇場之中。

根據相關報道顯示，在近些年來，學生選擇人文科學的人數在急劇下降，因此，這使得中國哲學課程的走紅更加搶眼。

在普鳴教授的哲學課上，他要求學生細讀《論語》《孟子》以及《道德經》，然后結合自己的日常生活予以領悟。

《大西洋月刊》的一篇報道顯示，中國哲學能夠幫助那些十八九歲的年輕人思考如何成為一個好人以及如何創造一個更好的社會。

在哈佛校園受到青睞的不只是中國哲學，還有中國文學。兩個月前出版的首部《杜甫詩》英語全譯本是哈佛學生的流行讀物，杜甫也被冠以“東方的莎士比亞”的稱號。

從哲學到文學，中國先賢們正影響著美國的年輕人。