Lecture on Confucianism "Heaven and Self: The Origin of Moral Consciousness", March 22, in Hybrid

21 March 2022

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Conference organized by the Inalco Foundation, in association with IFRAE (Inalco-Université Paris Cité-CNRS), as part of the "Confucianism in the Context of Globalization" lecture series supported by EURASIA Foundation (from Asia).
Mandae lu 晩對樓 ou le « Pavillon (dans lequel il convient de) se mettre vis-à-vis (de la falaise bleu-vert) au crépuscule »
Mandae lu 晩對樓 ou le « Pavillon (dans lequel il convient de) se mettre vis-à-vis (de la falaise bleu-vert) au crépuscule » © de Pyŏngsan sŏwŏn 屛山書院 ou l’Académie confucéenne de Pyŏngsan (Andong, Corée du Sud). Photo prise par Daeyeol KIM, mai 2005‎

Tuesday, March 22, 2022 - 18:00-20:00 - Maison de la recherche - Auditorium Georges Dumézil / and online
Inalco - 2 rue de Lille 75007 - Paris

To follow the conference remotely click here.

Heaven and self: the origin of moral consciousness

by Kim Daeyeol, Professor in Korean Studies, Inalco

Is Confucianism a religion? This, according to Wilfred Cantwell Smith, is a question the West has never been able to answer, and China has never been able to ask. The inaccessibility of Confucianism to this question could be explained by the fact that Heaven is, in Zhu Xi's neo-Confucianism in particular, perceived as the universal principle itself, and therefore impersonal, or in the state ideology underpinning a feudal order, as the absolute being to which only a monarch, as Son of Heaven, can or has the right to address himself. And yet, in the classics of primordial Confucianism, such as the Book of Odes and the Book of Documents, and even in Confucius' Entretiens, Heaven appears as a being in the face of which man, as an individual, feels awe, scruples and piety. The lecture will present the ideas of a number of Korean thinkers from Chosŏn (1392-1897), from the 16th to the 19th century, according to which moral consciousness has its source in the personal relationship between Heaven and man.

Contacts: frederic.wang@inalco.fr / fondation@inalco.fr

Find all information on the lecture cycle Confucianism in the Context of Globalization