| Edward Slingerland | |
| Birth Date: | 25 May 1968 |
| Birth Place: | Maplewood, New Jersey, United States |
| Discipline: | Philosophy, Asian Studies, Psychology |
| Work Institutions: | University of British Columbia |
| Alma Mater: | Stanford University |
| Doctoral Advisor: | Philip J. Ivanhoe |
| Website: | https://www.edwardslingerland.com/ |
Edward Slingerland (born May 25, 1968) is a Canadian-American sinologist and philosopher. He is Distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, where he also holds appointments in the Departments of Psychology and Asian Studies. His research interests include early Chinese thought, comparative religion and cognitive science of religion, big data approaches to cultural analysis, cognitive linguistics, digital humanities, and humanities-science integration.
As an undergraduate, Slingerland attended Stanford University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Languages (with distinction) in 1991.[1] After earning a Masters of Arts in East Asian Languages (Classical Chinese) at the University of California, Berkeley, he returned to Stanford, where he completed his doctorate in Religious Studies under the supervision of Philip J. Ivanhoe.
From 1998 to 1999, Slingerland taught in the Religious Studies department of University of Colorado, Boulder.
From 1999 to 2005, he held a post at the University of Southern California with a joint appointment in the School of Religion and Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures.
Since 2005, he has been a professor at the University of British Columbia, originally in the Asian Studies department until 2021, when he joined the Philosophy department.
Slingerland is the Director of the Database of Religious History (DRH), an online, quantitative and qualitative encyclopedia of religious cultural history.[2] In 2021, the project received a $4.8 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation.[3]
Slingerland is the author of six academic books as well as two books written for a popular audience. He has also authored and co-authored numerous academic articles, which have appeared in publications such as Nature, Ethics, the Annual Review of Psychology, and the Journal of the American Academy of Religion.
His 2003 book Effortless Action: Wu-wei as Conceptual Metaphor and Spiritual Ideal in Early China was awarded "Best First Book in the History of Religions" by the American Academy of Religion.[4]