Roma Sinica

From the 17^th century onwards, in a context of increasingly intense trade and diplomatic contacts, the exchange of scientific ideas became a key element in the encounters between the European world and the cultures of the Far East.

This volume investigates the ways in which scientific knowledge was transferred and disseminated to new audiences, whose cultural background was very different from that in which such knowledge had originally developed. A vital role in this process was played by the Jesuit mission in China, whose members included intellectuals with a keen interest in cross-cultural comparison. The study of the local languages enabled the transfer of knowledge in both directions, through translations of existing texts and the production of new ones for both Chinese and European audiences. The papers in the volume, authored by specialists in various fields of cultural studies, highlight the intellectual effort and strategies by which scientific works were made available and understandable beyond cultural differences.

The volume will be welcome to those interested not only in cultural interactions between Europe and the Far East, but also in translation studies, particularly in the dissemination of scientific knowledge.

This book intends to be a reaction to a remarkable paradox within Korean studies, easily encountered even by non-experts. While many Korean studies journals strongly encourage the submission of "multicultural" and "transnational" articles, in fact, very few scholars in the world are able to receipt this message.

The volume analyzes various episodes of confrontation, both "physical" and "cultural", between the people of Korea and foreign counterparts (i.e.: the "others") in various historical moments. It was devised and born within the Humanities Korea Plus (HK+) Project entitled Collectio, collatio, connectio, which is sponsored by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea and is currently underway at Anyang University in Anyang City, Republic of Korea. This project aims to explore documents on relations and exchanges between East and West, especially (but not only) in pre-modern times and it aspires to serve as a turning point in the history of comparative and transnational studies on Korea. In doing so, it also attempts to address deficiencies in existing scholarship, especially with regard to comparisons between the Far East (and Korea in particular) and the cultures of the Near/Middle East and the classic and medieval West.

It follows that this volume has as its target a rather broad academic audience, not limited merely to the field of Korean studies, but ranging from the ancient Mediterranean to Japan, passing through medieval and modern Europe.

It is now recognized that emotions have a history. In this book, eleven scholars examine a variety of emotions in ancient China and classical Greece, in their historical and social context. A general introduction presents the major issues in the analysis of emotions across cultures and over time in a given tradition. Subsequent chapters consider how specific emotions evolve and change. For example, whereas for early Chinese thinkers, worry was a moral defect, it was later celebrated as a sign that one took responsibility for things. In ancient Greece, hope did not always focus on a positive outcome, and in this respect differed from what we call “hope.” Daring not to do, or “undaring,” was itself an emotional value in early China. While Aristotle regarded the inability to feel anger as servile, the Roman Stoic Seneca rejected anger entirely. Hatred and revenge were encouraged at one moment in China and repressed at another. Ancient Greek responses to tragedy do not map directly onto modern emotional registers, and yet are similar to classical Chinese and Indian descriptions. There are differences in the very way emotions are conceived. This book will speak to anyone interested in the many ways that human beings feel.

The volume includes the proceedings of the 2nd Roma Sinica project conference held in Seoul in September 2019 and aims to compare some features of the ancient political thought in the Western classical tradition and in the Eastern ancient thought. The contributors, coming from Korea, Europe, USA, China, Japan, propose new patterns of interpretation of the mutual interactions and proximities between these two cultural worlds and offer also a perspective of continuity between contemporary and ancient political thought.

Therefore, this book is a reference place in the context of the comparative research between Roman (and early Greek thought) and Eastern thought. Researchers interested in Cicero, Seneca, Plato, post-Platonic and post Aristotelic philosophical schools, history, ancient Roman and Chinese languages could find interesting materials in this work.

This book explores the relationships between ancient Roman and Confucian thought, paying particular attention to their relevance for the contemporary world. More than 10 scholars from all around the world offer thereby a reference work for the comparative research between Roman (and early Greek) and Eastern thought, setting new trends in the panorama of Classical and Comparative Studies.