Michael (Zhenyang) Cai (PhD student)

Biography

Background

I am a PhD student in the philosophy of education. After completing my master’s program in philosophy of education at the Institute of Education, University College London, I moved to Edinburgh to continue my doctoral journey. My research focuses on aesthetic education from an intercultural philosophical perspective that bridges Eastern and Western traditions. This has been the core of my academic pursuit throughout my undergraduate, master’s, and now doctoral studies.

Currently, I am engaging with the ideas of three key thinkers: John Dewey (American philosopher), Kida Gen (Japanese philosopher), and Feng Youlan (Chinese philosopher).

As Ralph Waldo Emerson poetically articulates in 'The Rhodora':

“Rhodora! If the sages ask thee why,

This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,

Tell them, dear, that, if eyes were made for seeing,

Then beauty is its own excuse for being.”

This resonates deeply with classical Chinese thought. In my own words:

美自其所存而显，不待外求。人事天，行天道，与天参，不假思量计较；圣人无意而成事，极高明而道中庸，万象森然，井然其序；动心忍性时时有，心心澄明复何求？；虽不能至，心向往之……若或已至，反复相明，不由，而照之于同天。

Past project grants

Visiting Scholar, Centre for Contemporary Marxist Aesthetics, Zhejiang University, China. Funded by Turing Grant from UCL.
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/careers/finding-opportunities/work-opportunities/g...

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