"Fate and Prediction in Chinese and European Traditions.
Key Concepts and Organization of Knowledge"
June 28th–30th, 2011
Fate and prediction present a pervasive anthropological phenomenon found in all cultures and civilizations but with differing characteristics and manifestations. There is no civilization in which fate and prediction – two intrinsically connected concepts – have had such prominent status as in China. How are they conceptualized and termed in Chinese civilization? What place do these concepts hold in the organization of knowledge? On the other hand, in which conceptual frameworks are fate and prediction understood and defined in Europe, and how is knowledge of such organized and classified? These are the main questions to be addressed. The conference will therefore first focus on the terminological and semantic foundations of fate and prediction in the Chinese and European contexts, and present various key concepts intertwined with these terms. The second part will concentrate on different ideas of organization of knowledge in China and Europe. Within the Chinese context, bibliographies and early encyclopedias offer an excellent insight into how prediction and mantic practices are arranged and categorized. As for the European organization of knowledge, the artes liberales and encyclopedias provide valuable information on medieval topoi of knowledge.
Programme
| Tuesday, June 28, 2011 | |
|---|---|
| 2:00 p.m. | Welcome Address |
| 2:30 p.m. | Schicksal und Vorhersage in wissenschaftsgeschichtlicher Perspektive Uta Lindgren (Universität Bayreuth) |
| 3:00 p.m. | Prediction and Predictability in Early Chinese Divination Terminologies Wolfgang Behr (Universitaät Zuürich) |
| 3:30 p.m. | Discussion |
| 4:00 p.m. | Coffee Break |
| 4:30 p.m. | Robert Fludds ‚Utriusque Cosmi Historia‘. Der Ort mantischer Vorstellungen / Praktiken in einer fruühneuzeitlichen Enzyklopädie Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggemann (FU Berlin) |
| 5:00 p.m. | Key Concepts of Fate and Prediction in the Yijing Richard Smith (Rice University) |
| 5:30 p.m. | Discussion |
| 6:00 p.m. | End |
| Wednesday, June 29, 2011 | |
|---|---|
| 9:00 a.m. | Die Stoa über Schicksal und Freiheit Maximilian Forschner (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg) |
| 9:30 a.m. | Schicksal als Aufgabe: Zur Auffassung von Ming in der klassischen chinesischen Philosophie Guido Rappe (Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) |
| 10:00 a.m. | Discussion |
| 10:30 a.m. | Coffee Break |
| 10:45 a.m. | Fate and Prognostication in the Weishu 緯書 Literature Bent Nielsen (University of Copenhagen) |
| 11:15 a.m. | Su Shi 蘇軾 (1037-1101) and Divination through the Zhouyi: A Case Study at the End of the Northern Song Dynasty Stéphane Feuillas (Université Paris Diderot) |
| 11:45 a.m. | Discussion |
| 12:15 p.m. | Lunch Break |
| 2:00 p.m. | Fate and Time in the Koran Georges Tamer (Ohio State University) |
| 2:30 p.m. | Schicksal und Vorhersage in Texten muslimischer Mystiker und Literaten Ralf Elger (Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg) |
| 3:00 p.m. | Discussion |
| 3:30 p.m. | Coffee Break |
| 3:45 p.m. | Fate and Prognostication in Late Imperial Chinese Buddhism: The Case of Ouyi Zhixu (1599-1655) Beverley Foulks (University of North Carolina Wilmington) |
| 4:15 p.m. | Auspice Determination in Eight-House Fengshui Stephen Field (Trinity University) |
| 4:45 p.m. | Discussion |
| 5:15 p.m. | Coffee Break |
| 5:30 p.m. | Naturwissenschaften und Wissenskonzeptionen am päpstlichen Hof des XIII. Jahrhunderts Agostino Paravicini Bagliani (Universiteé de Lausanne) |
| 6:00 p.m. | Discussion |
| 6:30 p.m. | End |
| Thursday, June 30, 2011 | |
|---|---|
| 9:00 a.m. | A Parting of the Ways: Astrology versus Astromancy in Early China David Pankenier (Lehigh University) |
| 9:30 a.m. | The Place of Divinatory Sciences in Arabic and Latin Divisions of Knowledge Charles Burnett (Warburg Institute; IKGF Visiting Fellow) |
| 10:00 a.m. | Discussion |
| 10:30 a.m. | Coffee Break |
| 10:45 a.m. | The Mantic and the Metaphysical: The Ethnopoetics of Zhu Xi's World Picture Lionel Jensen (University of Notre Dame; IKGF Visiting Fellow) |
| 11:15 a.m. | Always wrong: Explaining failed Apocalyptic Prophecies. Again and Again Richard Landes (Boston University; IKGF Visiting Fellow) |
| 11:45 a.m. | Discussion |
| 12:15 p.m. | Lunch Break |
| 2:00 p.m. | Fortuna at the Crossroad: When Christianity met Chinese Mantic Practices Chu Pingyi (Academia Sinica; IKGF Visiting Fellow) |
| 2:30 p.m. | Astral Determinism in the Middle Ages David Juste (University of Sydney; IKGF Visiting Fellow) |
| 3:00 p.m. | Discussion |
| 3:30 p.m. | Coffee Break |
| 3:45 p.m. | Ways of Organizing Knowledge in Early China Martin Kern (Princeton University; IKGF Visiting Fellow) |
| 4:15 p.m. | The Representation of Mantic Arts in Seventh-Century Encyclopedias Paul Kroll (University of Colorado Boulder) |
| 4:45 p.m. | Discussion |
| 5:15 p.m. | Coffee Break |
| 5:30 p.m. | Final Discussion |
| 6:00 p.m. | Discussion |
| 6:30 p.m. | End |
Location
Kulturzentrum E-Werk: 2. OG
Fuchsenwiese 1 – 91054 Erlangen
Download
Flyer (PDF 2,1 MB)
Documentation
Abstracts of the Conference Contributionsas well as the conference contribution "Key Concepts of Fate and Prediction in the Yiying (Classic of Changes)" by Richard J. Smith can be downloaded at Research > Event Documentation.