Internationaler Workshop of subproject C09 „Evaluationen von Wissen in konfuzianischen Akademien“ 

Given a troublesome history of the modern perception of Confucian teaching both in the West and East Asia there is a strong tension between texts of Chosŏn Literati perceived as Confucian and a large corpus of texts which are relegated either to the realm of literature, official documents, or personal materials. The purpose of the present workshop is to challenge the dichotomy and bring to attention various types of Literati writings which have been considered as not typically Confucian for a long time and were largely neglected by modern research or studied only as collateral products of Confucian scholars. This concerns above all large corpus of texts studied predominantly by literature specialists, such as poetry or epigraphics, texts, understood as official documents including various sorts of court memorandum, reports or policy plans and analysis, as well as a broad range of texts mined mostly for information on the author represented by correspondence, dialogues with disciples or diaries.

The notion of dichotomy between pure literature, expressing personal feelings of Chosŏn Literati, and their ideologically motivated official writings addressed either to the Korean State authorities or fellow scholars and disciples was to a large degree constructed by the Literati themselves to appeal to diverse audiences in their official capacities yet it should not obscure the fact that most of their personal writings were motivated by the same ideals of the Learning of the Way like their reform proposals or documents written in their official capacities. 

As a prime example of stereotypical treatment of a Confucian scholar’s œuvre could serve collected writings of Yulgok Yi I (1536–1584) and their historical and modern reflections as materials recommending knowledge transfer and epistemic changes within Chosŏn Confucian discourse. Workshop presentations will focus an analysis of various Literari forms and genres employed by Yulgok in his quest for the spreading of the Confucian message and engage in a dialogue over the question whether of his takes could be singled out as typically Confucian or not. This seemingly trivial question is a basic precondition for a fundamental revision of the existing notion of what is currently understood under a category of Korean philosophical or Confucian texts.