Confucius au cœur des polémiques sur la scène européenne au tournant des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles
Résumé
Polemics on Confucius in Europe around the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries
On October 18th 1700, the Faculty of Theology of Sorbonne prohibited three books on China, written by Jesuits. The sentence blamed the use of expressions labelled as false, preposterous, full of errors and slanderous to the Christian religion.
The violence of polemics rises the evidence that Confucius was not unknown in the 17th-18th centuries Europe. On the contrary, he has come to embody new values. From philosopher of Natural Law, endowed with the prestige of venerable school master, his public perception slowly evolves to a personification of a model for Europe. The personification took tentative definitions to regulate social conduct in a lay manner, a universal symbol of a state kingdom governed with no connection to theological principles.
On October 18th 1700, the Faculty of Theology of Sorbonne prohibited three books on China, written by Jesuits. The sentence blamed the use of expressions labelled as false, preposterous, full of errors and slanderous to the Christian religion.
The violence of polemics rises the evidence that Confucius was not unknown in the 17th-18th centuries Europe. On the contrary, he has come to embody new values. From philosopher of Natural Law, endowed with the prestige of venerable school master, his public perception slowly evolves to a personification of a model for Europe. The personification took tentative definitions to regulate social conduct in a lay manner, a universal symbol of a state kingdom governed with no connection to theological principles.
Le 18 octobre 1700, la Faculté de théologie de la Sorbonne censure trois ouvrages sur la Chine écrits par des jésuites au motif qu'ils employaient pour Confucius des termes erronés et injurieux pour la religion chrétienne. Loin d'être un inconnu, Confucius fut l'objet de violentes polémiques. L'article présente les perceptions complexes qu'il a incarnées dans la vie intellectuelle de l'Europe du début du XVIIe à la fin du XVIIIe siècle. D'un statut de « philosophe de la loi naturelle », investi de l'aura vénérable d'instituteur d'un empire perçu comme plus stable et plus pacifique qu'une Europe morcelée, perpétuellement déchirée par les controverses religieuses, son personnage personnifiera progressivement le mouvement d'invention d'un régime laïc de portée universelle et la viabilité d'un royaume régi en dehors de toute révélation.