International Conference “Tradition and New Mission: Confucianism from the Perspective of Modernity” 6-7 July 2024
The emergence and the development of the notion of “modernity” in Europe is related to the industrial revolution, the rise of cities and scientific progress. It is accompanied by spiritual renovations, like “renaissance”, “reformation” and “enlightenment”. Their basic ideas and values are still forming the way modern humans think and live, not only in Europe. This development is a continuing process and subject of constant discussion. In the course of the reception of European culture, Confucianism also came into contact with ideas and values related to “modernity”. An exchange began, accompanied by conflicts and resistance, as well as a reflection upon its genuine values and potential for further development. This process is continuing today and leads also to the question, whether Confucianism might be able to develop a form of modernity appropriate for Chinese culture. Taking a look at Confucianism from the perspective of “modernity” means on the one hand, to analyze how Confucianism looks at “modern” values and ideas, like individualism, subjective right, explicit expression of own interests, freedom, equality, rule of law, the culture of contract just to name a few, and to investigate whether there exist corresponding spiritual resources in its own tradition. On the other hand, Confucianism must debate, whether its traditional values, like humaneness, rule by virtue, and so on, are compatible with modernity and furthermore could even be considered to be “modern”, thus being able to contribute to a consensus of universal values and understandings of modernity.
The conference is organized by the Institute of Sinology, Trier University, Germany, the German Confucian Society (Deutsche Konfuzianische Gesellschaft, DKG), the Zengzi Research Institute at Shandong University, Zeng Zhiming Fundation for Zengzi-Research and Zengzi Association of the Society for Chinese Philosophy. Conference languages are Chinese and English (Chinese is preferred). The Call for Paper can be downloaded here. (pdf 388KB)
We are welcoming proposals from all relevant study fields, such as philosophy, history, and sinology / Chinese studies. Participants are asked to send an abstract of about 200 English words or 300 Chinese characters together with their affiliation and contact information until 29 April 2024 to Tim Dressler <dressler@uni-trier.de>.
Conference schedule:
Deadline for submitting abstracts: 29 April 2024
Notification of acceptance: 13 May 2024
Arrival and registration: 05 July 2024
Conference: 06-07 July 2024
Excursion: 08 July 2024 (optional, organized by the DKG)
Location: Institute of Sinology, Trier University, Trier, Germany
There is no conference fee. We will take care of the hotel costs of the participants, if our funds permit. The participants should take care of their additional travel costs themselves. The organizers will provide free meals during the conference.
Contact:
Christian Soffel 蘇費翔（德國特里爾大學漢學系教授）<soffel@uni-trier.de>
Du Lun 杜崙（德国德国儒学学会会长） <dulun2001@outlook.de>
Zeng Zhenyu 曾振宇（中国山东大学曾子研究所所长）<zengzhenyu39@163.com>
Tim Dressler <dressler@uni-trier.de>
Organizers:
Institute of Sinology, Trier University, Germany 德國特里爾大學漢學系
German Confucian Society (Deutsche Konfuzianische Gesellschaft, DKG) 德国儒学学会
Zengzi Research Institute at Shandong University 中国山东大学曾子研究所
Zeng Zhiming Fundation for Zengzi-Research 曾智明“曾子学术基金”
Zengzi Association of the Society for Chinese Philosophy 中国哲学史学会曾子研究会
傳統與新命：現代性視域下的儒家思想國際學術研討會徵稿啟示
普遍意義的“現代性”概念產生和發展于歐洲。它不僅與工業革命、城市興起以及科技進步息息相關，同時也伴隨著文藝復興、宗教改革以及啓蒙運動等思想方面的革新。“現代性”的基本思想和價值觀不僅影響歐洲至今，也外溢與歐洲之外。同時，雖然已經有了“后現代”的觀點，“現代性”似乎不僅還処在不斷發展的過程中，也是永久討論的議題。在與歐洲文化相遇，並接受歐洲文化的過程中，儒家思想也認識了“現代化”的思想和價值。當然，彼此之間的認識和交流也伴隨著衝突和對歐洲文化的抵禦。在此過程中，儒家不僅對儒家價值本身進行了批判性的反思，也提出了儒家是否應該和能夠發展出與中國文化相應的“現代性”的問題。
因此，討論“现代性视域下的儒家思想”包含兩個含義。一方面，儒家怎麽看待那些被認爲是“現代性”的價值，比如個體主義、權利、個人利益、自由、平等、契約精神、法律之治和民族國家；並同時考察在中國文化裏能否找到相應的思想資源。另一方面，儒家也應該考察中國傳統思想，比如“仁”、“仁政”和“德政”，能否與“現代性”相容，甚至可以被視爲“現代性”。無論回答是肯定還是否定的，都可以探討這些思想能否為形成普世價值的共識和對“現代化”的新理解做出貢獻。
為此，德國特里爾大學漢學系、德國儒學學會、中國山東大學曾子研究所、曾智明“曾子學術基金”及中國哲學史學會曾子研究會與 2024 年 7 月 5—8 日在德國特里爾大學舉辦“傳統與新命：現代視域下的儒家思想國際學術研討會。玆將會議事宜函告如下，敬請悉知：
一、會議時間：2024 年 7 月 5 日（周五）到 8 日（周一）
二、會議地點：德國特里爾大學
三、日程安排：7 月 5 日報到，6—7 日會議研討，8 日文化考察，9 日離會。
四、會議費用：沒有報名費。住宿費盡量由主辦單位承擔（看經費狀況）。交通請自理，餐飲
費用由主辦單位承擔。
五、會議語言：漢語、英語（漢語優先）
六、有意參會者敬請把論文摘要（300 字左右）寄到 Tim Dressler<dressler@uni-trier.de>的郵
箱。報名截止日：2024 年 4 月 29 日。
七、會議聯系人：
Christian Soffel 蘇費翔（德國特里爾大學漢學系教授），郵箱：<soffel@uni-trier.de>
杜崙（德國儒學學會會長），郵箱： <dulun2001@outlook.de>
曾振宇（中國山東大學曾子研究所所長），郵箱：<zengzhenyu39@163.com>
Tim Dressler <dressler@uni-trier.de>
