MRI Public Forum: Bridging East and West: François Noël S.J. (1651–1729)’s Synthesis of Aristotelian and Confucian Virtue Ethics in Philosophia Sinica

event

MRI Public Forum: Bridging East and West: François Noël S.J. (1651–1729)’s Synthesis of Aristotelian and Confucian Virtue Ethics in Philosophia Sinica

20

Apr

The Macau Ricci Institute is hosting Public Forum: “Bridging East and West: François Noël S.J. (1651–1729)’s Synthesis of Aristotelian and Confucian Virtue Ethics in Philosophia Sinica” on 20 April, from 18:30 – 20:00, at the Conference Room of USJ Ilha Verde Campus.

INTRODUCTION:

This presentation examines François Noël SJ’s Philosophia Sinica (1711) as an early and highly self-conscious attempt to articulate a transcultural virtue ethics between the Aristotelian and Confucian worlds. Rather than treating Noël merely as a missionary translator or as a flawed European observer of China, the paper argues that he should be read as an intermediary thinker whose encounter with the Chinese classics generated a constructive ethical synthesis. The central claim is that Noël does not simply “translate” or “report” Confucian moral thought to a European audience; he reorganizes it through conceptual instruments drawn from Aristotelian and Thomistic moral philosophy, especially the notions of habit, finality, and the four causes.

The paper first situates this inquiry within current debates on whether Confucianism is better understood as role ethics or as virtue ethics. It then shows why Noël’s work remains philosophically significant: he stands at the intersection of Jesuit hermeneutics, early modern comparative philosophy, and the later European reception of Confucian moral teaching. Special attention is given to Noël’s use of the Yijing commentarial tradition and the Mencius in order to develop a vocabulary capable of linking Chinese accounts of li, qi, goodness, and self-cultivation with Aristotelian accounts of causality, finality, and habituation.

Methodologically, the paper adopts a transformation-oriented model of cross-cultural exchange. On this reading, Noël’s text is not a neutral description of “Chinese philosophy,” nor should it be accepted uncritically from a contemporary perspective. Its Eurocentric limits are real. Yet precisely in and through these limits, Noël’s work reveals how the reading of foreign classics can transform an interpreter’s practical and conceptual horizon. The Philosophia Sinica thus emerges as a historically important witness to the possibility—and the risks—of constructing a shared ethical discourse across traditions.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Dr. Yves Vendé Université Catholique de Lille/Facultés Loyola Paris

Yves Vendé is a French teacher of philosophy and researcher whose work lies at the intersection of comparative hermeneutics and transcultural ethics. He is a member of the Faculty of Philosophy at Facultés Loyola Paris, and of TheoS in the Catholic University of Lille. Since September 2025, he is also the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Archives de Philosophie.

Vendé holds a PhD in Chinese philosophy from Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou). His recent publications include studies on Aquinas and Confucianism, Phenomenology and Chinese philosophy, the Anthropocene and self-cultivation, and Jesuit engagements with Chinese thought.

DETAILS:

Date: Monday 20th April 2026
Time: 6.30 PM – 8.00 PM (GMT+8, Macau time)
Location: Conference Room, 2/F Residential Hall, USJ Ilha Verde Campus
Language: English

Chair: Dr. Thomas Cai University of Saint Joseph Macau