Tsai Ying-wen (蔡英文), a researcher of democracy and totalitarianism at Academia Sinica’s Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences, has passed away, a group of fellow researchers announced on Facebook on Sunday.
Tsai, who has the same Chinese name as President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), was 67.
He was the first Chinese-speaking researcher to invoke the work of late American-German philosopher Hannah Arendt in his research, the group said.
Tsai Ying-wen died on Thursday last week from liver and lung infections caused by gastroesophageal reflux disease.
In the statement on the Facebook page for a political science text titled Who Governs? (菜市場政治學), the group praised Tsai Ying-wen for his contributions to the study of democracy and dictatorships.
He introduced Taiwanese students to the works of Arendt, as well as many legal principles new to them, it said.
Tsai Ying-wen’s translation of Chapter 2, “Imperialism,” and Chapter 3, “Totalitarianism,” of Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism sparked a surge of interest in the subjects in Taiwan, it said.
He also translated works by German political theorist Carl Schmitt, which he discussed in comparison with Arendt’s theories, and was one of the first researchers in Taiwan to critically discuss Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben’s concept of ausnahmezustand, or the “state of exception,” it said.
Tsai Ying-wen’s published works include From Monarchy and Autocracy to Democracy (從王權,專制到民主:西方民主思想的開展及其問題), Contemporary Political Thought (當代政治思潮) and Political Practice and Public Space (政治實踐與公共空間).
He also published a translation of John Gray’s Two Faces of Liberalism.
From Monarchy and Autocracy to Democracy won an award from Academia Sinica, the nation’s top research institute.
“That obscure academic work was reprinted after only three months. I suspect it was likely because readers mistakenly thought the author was the other Tsai Ing-wen,” the statement cited Tsai Ying-wen as jokingly saying when he accepted the award at the time.
The statement ended by thanking him for his contributions to the field of political science research.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS