MRI International Workshop 2010
An International Workshop in Commemoration of the
Fourth Centenary of the Death of Matteo Ricci, S.J.

Beyond Postmodernity:
Doubt, Time and Violence in Philosophical and Cultural Thought

Date: February 2, 2010

Place: Conference Room of the Macao Cultural Centre (Av. Xian Xing Hai S/N, NAPE, Macau, China)

Language: English

Contact: workshop2010@riccimac.org

On the eve of worldwide commemoration of the four hundredth anniversary of Fr. Matteo Ricci’s death (1610), The Macau Ricci Institute, faithful to the cultural and intellectual heritage of its great patron, is preparing to hold an International Workshop dedicated to the philosophical thought and humanistic encounter between Western and Chinese cultural traditions.

Having successfully conducted its first workshop in Macau in 2002, the MRI would like to continue to develop its medium of educating and inspiring activities, with a view to boosting the thought and reflection with a similar level of academic presentation offered to the local intellectual community.

For our first International Workshop we have chosen the theme Doubt, Time and Violence related to the philosophical and literary thought presented in European and Chinese cultures. The question of identity and fractured lives in a rapidly changing society and its relevance to the Western and Chinese traditions will be a leading theme of that Workshop.

With the emergence of the identity of repulsion and attraction, the being-for-self realizes that the whole world is not its own private domain, and sees the other as the ultimate limit of its power. The special status of the other is at the root of at least two central concerns of modern philosophy – doubt and time. Both concerns stem that life is an all-out, unrestrained struggle and that violence is inherent in the human condition. Modern philosophy becomes fully intelligible and coherent only when the notion of human violence is given paramount importance. In the light of Descartian “evil demon” and Heideggerian “death” predicaments attributed to human life, the notion of complete vulnerability to an “other” reveals itself only in violent confrontation. Accordingly, the notion of time considered as a present contra past – aliments antagonism and makes a ground for violent, life and death struggle between human beings.