The Philolexian Society of Columbia University
Wm. Theodore de Bary
Founder of the Neo-Confucian field in English; Columbia provost; National Humanities Medal.
From Notable Alumni · Foundation editorial
Founder of the Neo-Confucian field in English; Columbia provost; National Humanities Medal. Wm. Theodore de Bary (CC 1941) spent nearly seven decades at Columbia making the case, against the academic grain, that Confucian thought was a tradition of arguments rather than a museum exhibit. He edited the Sources of Chinese Tradition and its Japanese and Indian companions; established the field of Neo-Confucian studies in English; reorganized the Core Curriculum to include non-Western civilizations; and as Provost, kept the place running through the post-1968 austerity. He retired three times and the National Humanities Medal arrived anyway.
Vital
- Full name
- Wm. Theodore de Bary
Columbia & the Society
- Columbia
- Class of 1941 (Columbia College)
Works (31)
- 1956 Five Women Who Loved Love (translator, from Ihara Saikaku) · Tuttle
- 1957 Sources of Indian Tradition (with Stephen N. Hay and I. H. Qureshi) · Anthology
- 1958 Sources of Japanese Tradition (ed.) · Anthology
- 1959 Approaches to the Oriental Classics: Asian Literature and Thought in General Education (editor) · Columbia UP
- 1960 Sources of Chinese Tradition (ed.) · Anthology
- 1964 Approaches to Asian Civilizations · Columbia UP
- 1964 Guide to Oriental Classics · Columbia UP
- 1969 The Buddhist Tradition in India, China and Japan (editor) · Random House
- 1970 Self and Society in Ming Thought · Monograph
- 1975 The Unfolding of Neo-Confucianism · Columbia UP
- 1979 Principle and Practicality: Essays in Neo-Confucianism and Practical Learning · Columbia UP
- 1981 Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy and the Learning of the Mind-and-Heart · Lionel Trilling Book Award, 1983
- 1982 Yüan Thought: Chinese Thought and Religion under the Mongols · Columbia UP
- 1983 The Liberal Tradition in China · Chinese University of Hong Kong Press
- 1985 The Rise of Neo-Confucianism in Korea · Columbia UP
- 1988 East Asian Civilizations: A Dialogue in Five Stages · Reischauer Lectures
- 1989 Message of the Mind in Neo-Confucianism · Columbia UP
- 1989 Neo-Confucian Education: The Formative Stage · University of California Press
- 1990 Eastern Canons: Approaches to the Asian Classics · Columbia UP
- 1991 Learning for One's Self: Essays on the Individual in Neo-Confucian Thought · Columbia UP
- 1991 The Trouble with Confucianism · Monograph
- 1993 Waiting for the Dawn: A Plan for the Prince (translator, of Huang Zongxi) · Columbia UP
- 1997 Sources of Korean Tradition, Volume 1 · Harvard UP
- 1998 Confucianism and Human Rights (with Tu Weiming) · Columbia UP
- 2000 Asian Values and Human Rights: A Confucian Communitarian Perspective · Harvard UP
- 2004 Nobility and Civility: Asian Ideals of Leadership and the Common Good · Harvard UP
- 2006 Living Legacies at Columbia (editor) · Columbia UP
- 2007 Confucian Tradition & Global Education · New York: Columbia University Press, 2007
- 2008 Sources of East Asian Tradition (editor) · 2 vols
- 2011 Finding Wisdom in East Asian Classics · Columbia UP
- 2013 The Great Civilized Conversation: Education for a World Community · Columbia UP
Primary sources
Columbia College Today & other articles
Columbia Magazine — "Teacher and Trappist" by Thomas Vinciguerra (2010)
Merton was still much on de Bary's mind. Both had been relatively big men on campus, having been members, for instance, of Philolexian, the venerable Columbia literary society.
Article explicitly identifies both Thomas Merton (CC 1938) and Wm. Theodore de Bary (CC 1941) as members of the Philolexian Society.
Columbia College Today — vol. 43 (2002), Philolexian bicentennial dinner report
Alumni present included Special Service Professor Wm. Theodore de Bary '41, William Peterfield Trent Professor of English and Comparative Literature John Rosenberg '50, Donn Coffee '55 and former CCT editor Jamie Katz '72.
Named as one of the Philo alumni present at the bicentennial dinner.
Columbia College Today — vol. 36 (~1994), 'Fifty-three years after he first graduated' feature on Wm. Theodore de Bary
Few can match Mr. de Bary's immersion in the Light Blue. Such is the extent of his association with the College—former chairman of the Student Board and manager of the Debate Council, winner of the Lionel Trilling, Mark Van Doren, Great Teacher, and John Jay Awards, a lifelong supporter of athletics—that some of his ties (like his membership in the Philolexian Society, which, he says dryly, 'I have no reason to repudiate') have only lately emerged. Indeed, Professor de Bary affirmed his honorary place in the Class of '94 by marching with the College's graduates at Class Day.
CCT feature quotes de Bary's own dry acknowledgment of his Philolexian membership: 'I have no reason to repudiate.' Fourth independent primary-source confirmation of his Society membership (in addition to the Columbia Magazine 'Teacher and Trappist' article, the Wikipedia list, and the CCT v.51 Distinguished Literary Achievement Award). Also documents: honorary Doctor of Letters (May 1994); 23 books authored; founder of Columbia's Oriental Studies program (1953); Provost and Executive VP for Academic Affairs 1971-78; director of the Senior Scholars Program; the Wm. Theodore and Fanny Brett de Bary and Class of 1941 Collegiate Professorship of Asian Humanities created 1991; former Student Board chair, Debate Council manager, winner of the Lionel Trilling, Mark Van Doren, Great Teacher, and John Jay Awards; marched with the Class of '94 at Class Day.
External references
Community-maintained record
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