Comparative Utopias: Catholicism and Confucianism

This conference seeks to delve into the divergence between the East and the West and the democratic crisis at home and abroad from the perspective of utopia discourse. Humans possess a natural propensity for a utopian dream and this dream aspires to progress and reshape reality. The democracy crisis in USA and the regression of Democratic progress in China, in part could be interpreted as a conflict between the imperfect real politics and the ideal perfectionism dreamed by people especially intellectuals and politicians.

The democratic crisis is generally approached through social science perspectives. This conference, however, seeks to approach the issue from a humanities perspective, focusing on political theories, literary representations, and historical practices of utopia and democracy. The exploration of democracy within the discourse of utopia, along with the comparative perspective, can provide a new anchor and intellectual depth to understand the democratic crisis both at home and abroad.

Cosponsored with the Kellogg Institute, the Ansari Institute, the Medieval Institute, and the Henkels Grant