China Studies Research Centre, La Trobe University
2:00-3:30 Monday 4 March 2019
Room 318, Education 2 (ED2), La Trobe University
Ma Yifu 马一浮 (1883-1967) was a major twentieth-century Confucian philosopher yet he remains virtually unknown outside China. As a cultural nationalist, Ma argued that an ethical system based on the Confucian Classics ought to remain normative in modern China. To that end, he developed his philosophical system by drawing on the conceptual resources of traditional Neo-Confucian philosophy. This seminar will provide an introduction to his ethical system and show how it was tied to his political ideals. I will argue that his thinking reflects a deep-rooted affinity between Confucianism and authoritarianism, and that Ma exemplifies some longstanding characteristics of Chinese cultural nationalism.
About the Speaker
YU Yihong is a PhD candidate in the China Studies Research Centre. His research focuses on Confucianism and intellectual history (especially political and philosophical thought) of modern China.