中国人民大学哲学院CPRC全英文系列讲座

第三讲：

《荀子》礼义观研究

Lecture Three：

Studies on the Ritual Propriety in the Xunzi 

speaker 主讲人

Li Jifen 李记芬

Date 日期

9.20，2026

Time 时间

10:00-11:30 am

Place 地点

Room 301，Lide Building

立德楼301

About the speaker

LI Jifen, born in the city of Linyi, Shandong Province, is an associate professor in Renmin University of China, who is also in charge of the English master program CPRC. Her research interests include Chinese classical philosophy, Neo-Confucianism, and comparative studies between East and West. Her publications include one book in Chinese, Studies on the Thought of the Complete Person in Xunzi (Chinese Social Science Press, 2021), and many journal papers. She has presided over 7 research projects from Ministry of Education, Beijing Social science Funding Projects, and Renmin University of China.

Abstract

Taking ritual propriety merely as an instrument external to human beings fails to appreciate important aspects of Xunzi’s conception of ritual propriety. Drawing on suggestions from Martin Heidegger’s philosophy, I argue that ritual propriety in the Xunzi is analogous to language in Heidegger in important ways. For Heidegger, language is the “house of Being.” For Xunzi, ritual propriety could also be described as the house of the being of humanity. “House” refers to the medium in which human beings dwell. As the “house” of the morally refined person, ritual propriety, for Xunzi, is an ontological medium in which the human being comes to presence and becomes truly human in a Confucian sense.