This conference will bring together leading US and international scholars to address the relevance of Neo-Confucianism to contemporary global philosophy, and to push forward the engagement of Neo-Confucian philosophers and texts with contemporary philosophy. For the purposes of the conference, “Neo-Confucianism” will be understood broadly to include any thinker working within the Confucian tradition from the Song (960-1278) through Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. In addition, since we are concerned to treat Confucianism as a live philosophical possibility, more recent thinkers who draw significantly on Neo-Confucians also fall within the conference’s scope. “Global philosophy” means philosophical practice that is open to the insights and approaches of philosophical traditions from around the globe. It is not based on the premise that we must all be aimed at discovering one philosophy applicable to everyone in the world, but rather that as we pursue our various approaches, we should be actively learning from — and contributing to — philosophy that derives from other traditions.

The conference will take place at the Mansfield Freeman Center for East Asian Studies on the campus of Wesleyan University.

Invited participants have submitted papers in advance, all of which are available through this website. Presentations at the conference will be limited to brief summaries, so papers must be downloaded and read in advance.

Non-participants who would like to attend are welcome. In order to access the papers and attend meals, free advance registration is required; please see the link to the left.