Tang Prize laureates in Sinology, rule of law unveiled in Taipei
2018/06/22
The 2018 Tang Prize winners in the Sinology and rule of law categories were announced June 20 and 21, respectively, with U.S. academic Stephen Owen and Japanese scholar Yoshinobu Shiba recognized for their Chinese historical and literary studies and Israeli philosopher Joseph Raz honored for his research on legal reasoning and morality.
Owen, a professor at Harvard University and recipient of the James Bryant Conant University Professorship, is a leading scholar of Tang dynasty (618-907) poetry. He translated the complete works of Du Fu, one of the era’s leading poets, and authored several books on the history of the art form during this period.
David Wang, an academician at Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s foremost research institution, said that Owen’s comparative studies and translations unearthed new facets of Chinese literary history and helped bring classical poetry to Western audiences.
Awarded the Order of Culture by the Emperor of Japan in 2017, Shiba received the prize for his groundbreaking research on regional and economic history during the Song dynasty (960-1127), and the urbanization of China. He is particularly noted for his work examining social changes to explain the Tang-Song transition.
Academia Sinica Vice President Huang Chin-shing lauded the Sinologist for innovatively combining the strengths of Eastern and Western social sciences to uncover new narratives in primary literary sources.
In the rule of law category, Raz, a professor at King’s College London, was recognized for his analytical achievements in legal, moral and political philosophies. He is celebrated for dissecting complex and abstract legal concepts into clear and applicable methodologies so as to investigate issues spanning the normativity of law and the nature of authority, autonomy and liberalism.
According to Shei Ser-min, a philosophy professor at National Chung Cheng University in southern Taiwan’s Chiayi County, Raz’s widely studied writings offer key insights into the complex relationship between law and morality.
The Tang Prize, established by Taiwan entrepreneur Samuel Yin in 2012 and first conferred two years later, takes its name from the dynasty, a period considered the peak of ancient Chinese civilization characterized by robust international exchanges and cultural activities. According to the Tang Prize Foundation, recipients in each category receive or share a cash prize of NT$40 million (US$1.32 million), as well as a research grant of up to NT$10 million.
This year’s Tang Prize winners in the sustainable development and biopharmaceutical science categories were announced June 18 and 19, with climate scholars James E. Hansen and Veerabhadran Ramanathan sharing the former award and targeted cancer therapy researchers Brian J. Druker, Tony Hunter and John Mendelsohn picking up the latter.
The laureates will be honored at a ceremony Sept. 21 in Taipei City. A series of forums and speeches highlighting their work and achievements will also be staged during Tang Prize Week Sept. 19-27.
Source: Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=10&post=136564)
