We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
François Noël’s Contribution to the Western Understanding of Chinese Thought: <italic>Taiji sive natura</italic> in the <italic>Philosophia sinica</italic> (1711).
- Authors
Meynard, Thierry
- Abstract
Jesuits in China adopted key Confucian terms to express Christian notions; for example, <italic>Tian</italic> 天 or <italic>Shangdi</italic> 上帝 was considered an equivalent for God, and <italic>guishen</italic> 鬼神 for angels. A Terms controversy started among the Jesuits and other missionaries and developed into the famous Rites Controversy. However, all the missionaries agreed in rejecting the Neo-Confucian concept of <italic>Taiji</italic> 太極, which was believed to be materialistic, pantheistic, or atheistic. The Flemish Jesuit François Noël (1651-1729), after a careful study of Neo-Confucian texts, interpreted <italic>Taiji</italic> with the Western concept of nature, and even claimed that it held theistic meaning. We shall analyze and evaluate here this early Western attempt in giving a positive meaning to <italic>Taiji</italic>.
- Subjects
CONFUCIANISM; POLITICAL philosophy; CONFUCIAN philosophy; POLITICAL doctrines; POLITICAL science; JESUITS; CHINESE philosophy
- Publication
Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, 2018, Vol 17, Issue 2, p219
- ISSN
1540-3009
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11712-018-9602-1