Intercultural Encounter in the History of Political Thought Christian Wolff, Chŏng Yag-yong and Matteo Ricci

The encounter between Europe and East Asia that began during the European Enlightenment left its mark in Europe as well as in East Asia. This chapter exemplifies this encounter in the thought of two thinkers, namely Christian Wolff (1679-1754) and Chŏng Yag-yong (1762-1836). Both Christian Wolff and Chŏng Yag-yong were greatly impressed by Matteo Ricci's writings on China, Confucianism and, respectively, on European religion, philosophy and science. This chapter focuses on the contexts within which imported ideas were articulated with the thought of Wolff and Chŏng. This is not a matter of discussing whether the interpretations of these two authors were right or wrong, which, at least in the case of Confucianism, is practically impossible, as Confucianism, because of its discursive character, allows for many interpretations. Instead, it determines the place and function of alien concepts in the thought of these two thinkers. Keywords:Chŏng Yag-yong; China; Confucianism; intercultural encounter; Wolff

Political science · Politics · Chinese history and philosophy · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Religious studies · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought