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Ralph Weber and Philippe Major at the Biannual Conference of the Nordic Association for Chinese Studies
“When China Faces the World” was the topic of the biannual conference of the Nordic Association of Chinese Studies on June 13-14, 2019. Ralph Weber and Philippe Major organized a panel and presented papers at the event in Bergen (Norway).
The panel organized by the two researchers from the Institute for European Global Studies and Geir Sigurðsson (University of Iceland) aimed to explore the relevance of contemporary explorations of New Confucianism from a Chinese Studies’ perspective. In his talk, titled “A Manifesto for the Re-appraisal of New Confucianism,” Philippe Major argued for exploring New Confucianism from the outside – a practice that stands in opposition to one of the central claims of the New Confucian Manifesto. Ralph Weber used his talk on “The Philosophical (Ir-)Relevance of Anything” to demand more sociological and historical inquiries into New Confucian philosophy in order to ensure that the most philosophically relevant reading may emerge.
The Nordic Association for China Studies (北歐中華研究會) was established in 1991. It is an academic network for Nordic scholars, teachers, and students specializing in Chinese Studies with a focus on humanities and social sciences. Moreover, the association provides a network for distribution of relevant information and events. The gathering in Bergen (Norway) was the 14th biannual conference of the association. It took place on June 13-14, 2019.
Ralph Weber is Assistant Professor of European Global Studies. His research interests include methodological and Conceptual Aspects of Translinguistic and Transcultural Research, comparative philosophy, Chinese political philosophy, Chinese politics, and Confucianism.
Philippe Major is a postdoctoral researcher in the SNSF-Project „The Exterior of Philosophy: On the Practice of New Confucianism.” His research focuses on modern Confucian philosophy, the sociology of philosophy, modern Chinese intellectual history, and the New Culture movement (1915-1927).