Wm. Theodore de Bary

Wm. Theodore de Bary was a preeminent American sinologist and scholar of East Asian studies whose career at Columbia University spanned over six decades. He played a foundational role in establishing the field of Asian humanities in American higher education, championing a curriculum based on the direct study of primary texts. De Bary is best known for his monumental editorial work on the "Sources" series and his influential scholarship on Neo-Confucianism, arguing for the existence of a liberal tradition within Chinese thought.

Biography

Born in The Bronx in 1919, de Bary developed an early interest in Asia after reading the works of Lin Yutang. He entered Columbia College in 1937, where his studies were profoundly shaped by the Great Books curriculum championed by scholars like John Erskine and Mark Van Doren. His undergraduate education was interrupted by service in the United States Navy as a Japanese language officer during World War II, an experience that deepened his commitment to cross-cultural understanding. He returned to Columbia University after the war, completing his doctorate under the direction of John K. Fairbank at Harvard University. De Bary was married to Fanny de Bary, with whom he had four children, and he remained actively engaged in scholarship until his death in Tappan, New York in 2017.

Academic career

De Bary's entire professional life was centered at Columbia University, where he joined the faculty in 1949. He was instrumental in developing the university's renowned Core Curriculum, creating the pioneering "Introduction to Oriental Civilizations" course, which later evolved into "Contemporary Civilization in the East". He served as chair of the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and was appointed the first John Mitchell Mason Professor of the University. A dedicated institution-builder, he served as provost of the university from 1971 to 1978. He also played a key role in establishing the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy and was a founding member of the Committee on Chinese Thought of the Association for Asian Studies, mentoring generations of scholars including Tu Weiming and Irene Bloom.

Contributions to Asian studies

De Bary's most enduring contribution was his advocacy for the study of Asia through its own classic texts, moving beyond Western theoretical frameworks. He edited and co-edited landmark anthologies such as Sources of Chinese Tradition, Sources of Japanese Tradition, and Sources of Korean Tradition, which became standard textbooks in universities worldwide. His scholarly work focused on the Song dynasty and Ming dynasty revitalization of Confucianism, arguing that figures like Zhu Xi, Wang Yangming, and Huang Zongxi developed traditions of individualism, education, and dissent that constituted an "East Asian liberalism". This perspective challenged prevailing views of Chinese philosophy as purely authoritarian and influenced fields like intellectual history and comparative philosophy.

Major works and publications

Among his extensive bibliography, several works stand as cornerstones of the field. The Sources of Chinese Tradition (1960), co-edited with Wing-tsit Chan and Burton Watson, was a revolutionary compilation. His monographs include The Liberal Tradition in China (1983), The Trouble with Confucianism (1991), and Nobility and Civility: Asian Ideals of Leadership and the Common Good (2004). He also authored important studies such as Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy and the Learning of the Mind-and-Heart (1981) and Waiting for the Dawn: A Plan for the Prince (1993), a translation and analysis of Huang Zongxi's Mingyi daifang lu. His final major work was the three-volume The Great Civilized Conversation: Education for a World Community (2013).

Awards and honors

De Bary received numerous prestigious awards recognizing his lifetime of scholarship and bridge-building between cultures. In 1999, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Bill Clinton. The government of Japan honored him with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star in 2004. He also received the Tang Prize in Sinology in 2016. Other significant honors included the Bancroft Prize (for Sources of Japanese Tradition), the Watumull Prize from the American Historical Association, and fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

Category:American sinologists Category:Columbia University faculty Category:Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun