University of Hong Kong

This course introduces theoretical concepts of personality, that is, people's behavior under influence of internal and external forces. Topics: significant 19th- and 20th-century theorists who have contributed to the history and development of personality theory, examining how their theories were shaped by the period in which they lived, and assessing the utility of these theories today. The theorists studied include Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, Carl Gustav Jung, Eric Erikson, James McKeen Cattell, Hans Jurgen Eysenck, Albert Bandura, George Kelly, Carl Rogers, Abraham Maglow, and Francis Hsu. 

This course examines the historical beginnings of philosophy, especially (though not exclusively) in ancient Greece, and the developments some of its early forms underwent over the succeeding centuries within those traditions. It is also about how those philosophical traditions conceived of beginnings themselves: the beginnings of the world, its primary elements, and the first principles of philosophical enquiry.

This course examines the history of Sino-Japanese relations from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. It studies how political, economic, and cultural relations between the two countries have evolved through multiple stages of conflict and cooperation. It covers the following themes: economic development and modernization in East Asia; colonialism and imperialism; Japanese and Chinese nationalism; cross-cultural fertilizations within the Sinosphere; and the relation between war, memory, and national identity.

This course examines some of the most influential conceptualizations of happiness in the Western tradition. We will consider, in detail, the work of Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics), J.S.Mill (Utlitarianism) and Freud (Civilisation and Its Discontents). This focus will allow us to explore a range of ideas about the nature of happiness and the possibility (or impossibility) of our achieving it. Particular emphasis will be placed on the ongoing influence of these conflicting ideas in our contemporary world.