The lectures will mainly be delivered by Prof. Lee Ming-huei (National Taiwan University) and Prof. Jana S. Rošker )Ljubljana Unviersity), who both belong to the internationally renowed experts in Modern Confucianism. The course will offer an introduction of this thought current and analyze its social, political and ideological conditions. The aim of the course is providing a basic insight into the ideational foundations of the specific Chinese (or East Asian) modernization.

The last decades witnessed a number of important reversals of what we previously thought to be basic trends in history. The so-called Confucian revival (Contemporary or Modern Confucianism) doubtless belongs to such reversals. For almost a century, Confucianism has been condemned to the "dustbin" of history as an ideology rendered defunct by Chinese progress toward modernity. The philosophical current of Modern Confucianism was mainly developed during the 20th Century in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Beginning in the early eighties, Contemporary Modern Confucianism also began to reappear in the mainland China as one of the most important ideological concerns. It stili forms the most influential and important stream of thought in contemporary Chinese theory. This current is distinguished by a comprehensive attempt to revitalize traditional (particularly Confucian and Neo-Confucian) thought by means of new influences borrowed or derived from Western systems. It is defined by a search for synthesis between Western and Chinese traditional thought, aiming to elaborate a new system of ideas and values, suitable to resolve social and political problems of the modern, globalized world. Due to the fact that in Western (Especially in European) academic circles, there is stili very little known about this stream of thought, the course aims to introduce some of the specific features, as well as the general impact of this stream of thought; it will furthermore try to interpolate the contemporary Modern Confucian discourse into the methodological and essential framework of the present-day world philosophy.