On March 22, 2024, Professor Thierry Meynard (Chinese name: Mei Qianli) from Sun Yat-sen University delivered a series of academic lectures to students and faculty at the School of Foreign Studies, Nankai University, with the invitation of the Research Centre for International Communication of Chinese Culture. The lectures were divided into two sessions. The first one was titled “Ramblings on Overseas Sinological Studies”, and the second one was titled “Leibniz: A European Advocate of Neo-Confucianism”.
Prof. Thierry Meynard is a Yixian Scholar and Professor of Philosophy at Sun Yat-Sen University. He is a Ph.D. supervisor and Deputy Director of the Documentation Library of Spreading Western Learning to the East Studies. He mainly researches the exchange of ideas between China and the West, Western classical philosophy, and contemporary Neo-Confucianism. He is the author of books From Encounter to Recognition: Aristotle’s Encounter with Confucius in the Ming and Qing Dynasties (2019), The Jesuit Reading of Confucius (2015), Confucius Sinarum Philosophus (2010), The Religious Philosophy of Liang Shuming (2010), and A Brief Response on the Controversies over Shangdi, Tianshen and Linghun, co-authored with Daniel Canaris, by Niccolò Longobardo (2021). He is the editor of four volumes on Chinese Philosopher Confucius (2021), Notes on Ricci’s Catechismus Sinicus (2014), Notes on Gao Yizhi’s Cultivation of the Body and Western Learning in the Present (2019), and Notes on Gao Yizhi’s the Education of Children and Young People in the Present (2017).
Before the start of the lecture, Professor Hu Cui’e, Director of the Research Centre for International Communication of Chinese Culture and Doctoral Supervisor of the School of Foreign Studies at Nankai University, extended a warm welcome and heartfelt thanks to Professor Thierry Meynard for visiting Nankai.
On the morning of 22 March, young teachers, undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students from the School of Foreign Studies, the School of Philosophy, the School of History, the School of Mathematics, as well as guests from Shanghai Normal University attended the seminar. Prof Meynard first shared his academic journey and research with current teachers and students. He engaged in interdisciplinary discussions and exchanged views on various topics related to overseas sinology research, providing valuable suggestions for the academic research of young teachers. The dialogue was warm and relaxed. Prof Lu Xing, Vice Dean of the School of Philosophy at Nankai University, also attended the seminar. He answered questions and clarified Confucian terminology for the young school teachers.
On the afternoon of 22 March, Prof Meynard delivered a remarkable academic lecture on “Leibniz: A European Advocate of Neo-Confucianism”. During the lecture, he meticulously elucidated how Leibniz outshone the missionaries of his time when faced with the misleading secondary literature of Long Huamin. Prof Meynard also actively promoted the constructive dialogue between Neo-Confucianism and Western philosophy. Leibniz, in response to Long Huamin’s misleading secondary literature, was the first person to recognize the significance of Neo-Confucianism’s “Lixue” and actively promoted constructive dialogue between Neo-Confucianism and Western philosophy. During Prof Meynard’s lecture, the audience learned that Leibniz had the courage to break through the constraints of traditional thinking and dared to re-examine traditional concepts. This academic critical spirit earned him the respect of both teachers and students. After the lecture, the students and teachers asked questions enthusiastically, and Prof Meynard shared his opinions and suggestions. All attendees greatly benefited from the discussion in a warm atmosphere.
