China Studies Centre, The University of Sydney
1:00pm-2:30pm, Tuesday 20 November 2018
Room 306, Old Teachers College, the University of Sydney, NSW 2006
Registration: Click here
This seminar is co-presented with the Oriental Society of Australia.
The notions of humanness (ren仁) and rightness (yi義) have been central to Confucian thought ever since its very beginnings. Despite the countless layers of interpretation and rearticulation that inevitably accumulated over centuries of Confucian learning, the two concepts were almost always automatically considered as being essentially positive ones around which to postulate human moral development. A notable exception to this is to be found in a series of texts written by Kang Youwei during the earliest phases of his intellectual development, the Inner and Outer Essays of Master Kang(Kangzi neiwaipian康子內外篇) compiled in the mid-1880s. In these texts – which though largely overlooked by researchers arguably represent Kang’s earliest expression of a mature and independent philosophical discourse – yi is characterised in a singularly negative way, understood in opposition to ren, and is synonymous with social injustice resulting from the impact of Neo-Confucianism on Chinese society. This talk will explore Kang’s distinct use of this notion, while situating it within both the development of his own philosophical system, and the history of Confucianism in general.
About the speaker
Dr Sean Moores is Lecturer in Chinese and East Asian Thought at the University of Sydney. His research concentrates primarily on Qing-dynasty Confucian philosophy, in particular that of Kang Youwei (1858-1927).