Facing the Ruler, Facing the Village: On the Roads to Complicity Following Mengzi and Benda

In his article, “Facing the Ruler, Facing the Village,” Zvi Ben-Dor Benite seeks to broaden the boundaries of the discussion about complicity by taking it away from late 20th-century and contemporary debates about it. At the same time, he wishes to highlight the many faces that the problem of complicity could have in different historical moments. Following Czesław Miłosz, this article understands that there are many roads to complicity that have been articulated in different ways across time and space. This article is, therefore, an integrated meditation on complicity bringing together two radically distant approaches to the question. Reading the ancient Chinese thinker Mengzi, this article highlights two key situations leading to what we should call “complicity.” The first is concerned with the thorny issue of the intellectual at the court facing the ruler. The second place the intellectual within the people, “the village” in Mengzi\u27s words. Mengzi identifies both of these situations as highly problematic and potentially leading to the deviation from past moral principles to which one must adhere. With this insight, this article turns to Julien Benda\u27s famous, notorious, portrayal of the “treason of the intellectuals,” and discusses it along the parameters articulated by Mengzi

“Como los hebreos en España”: El encuentro de los jesuitas con los musulmanes y el problema del cambio cultural

This essay is concerned with the possibility of cultural change in the writings of Matteo Ricci. In order to elucidate this question, this essay discusses aspects of Matteo Ricci’s perception of Islam and Muslims in China and identifies the moments when they changed. I show that over time Ricci developed a much more nuanced perception of Islam in China, but argue still that his views remained quite limited because of lack of dialogue with Muslims he saw in China. These limitations, I also argue, reflect the limitations of European views of Islam in the early modern Euro-Mediterranean world. Recognizing these limitations, I suggest, might help us to develop new approaches to questions of religion in early modern China.Este trabajo trata de las posibilidades del cambio cultural en los escritos de Matteo Ricci. Para poder conocer mejor esta cuestión, este estudio discute diversos aspectos de la percepción de Matteo Ricci sobre el Islam y los musulmanes en China, identificando los momentos en los que cambia. He podido mostrar cómo, a lo largo del tiempo, Ricci desarrolló una percepción cada vez más matizada del Islam en China, pero sostengo que sus opiniones se mantuvieron bastante fijas debido a su falta de diálogo con los musulmanes de esa zona. Esta percepción tiene mucho que ver con los limitados puntos de vista del Islam en la Europa mediterránea moderna. Conocer estas limitaciones, sugiero, nos podrá ayudar a desarrollar nuevos enfoques sobre la investigación de la religión en China

The Dao of Muhammad: A Cultural History of Muslims in Late Imperial China

286 p

The Dao of Muhammad: A Cultural History of Muslims in Late Imperial China

286 p

Accounts of China and India

Cover -- ACCOUNTS OF CHINA AND INDIA -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- CONTENTS -- Letter from the General Editor -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Notes to the Introduction -- Map: The Lands and Seas of Abu Zāyd's Accounts -- ACCOUNTS OF CHINA AND INDIA -- Accounts of China and India: The First Book -- The Sea of Harkand -- Maritime Commerce between the Arabs and the Chinese -- The Sea Route from Sīrāf to Khānfū -- On Tides, and Unusual Phenomena of the Seas -- The Chinese and Some of Their Customs -- Accounts of the Lands of India and China and of Their Rulers -- China, and the Customs of Its Inhabitants -- India, and Some of the Customs of Its People -- Chinese and Indian Customs Compared -- Accounts of China and India: The Second Book -- The Changed Situation in China, and the Cause of It -- Various Practices and Manufactures of the Chinese -- The Visit of Ibn Wahb al-Qurashī to the King of China -- How the Seas Are Connected One to Another -- The Kingdom of al-Mihrāj -- The Land of al-Qamār and the Stupidity of Its King -- The Belief of the Eastern Kings in the Transmigration of Souls -- Accounts of China Continued -- Further Accounts of India -- Accounts of the Island of Sarandīb and of the Region of al-Aghbāb, Which Faces It -- General Accounts of India Continued -- The Land of the Zanj -- The Island of Socotra -- Seas and Lands Lying West of the Gulf of Oman -- Ambergris and Whales -- An Account of Pearls -- Further Accounts of Indian Customs -- Afterword to the Second Book -- Notes -- Glossary of Names and Terms -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute -- About the Translator -- The Library of Arabic LiteratureDescription based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries