IKGF Video Documentaries

The “Book of Changes” plays a leading role in the development of prognostication in China. As a specialist on I Ching research, Visiting Fellow Wenzhi Zhang (Center for Zhouyi and Ancient Chinese Philosophy, Shandong Unviersity, IKGF Cooperation Partner) explains in a dialogue with Xiaokun Song (IKGF) with the help of a concrete example – a question on the Consortium’s future of the IKGF – how the book was and remains used in Asian culture and how it is possible to draw conclusions from milfoil divination.

At the IKGF, Agostino Paravicini Bagliani has worked on the possibilities and methods of life prolongation at the papal court. In his interview with Klaus Herbers, he illustrates the functions and aims of his home institution, SISMEL, in Florence, and elucidates the transformation of humanities to deal with topics like alchemy, divination and astrology. Naturally, the then upcoming conference on divination and practical sciences in Arabic sources (January 2014) in cooperation with International Union of Academies is envisioned.

An Interview by Nikola Chardonnens with Prof. Natascha Gentz

Chinas encounter with the Western World, the reception of European Modernity and Chinese conceptual history among others, these are the topics addressed in the research of the director of the Asian Studies Department of the University of Edinburgh, Natascha Gentz. In conversation with Nikola Chardonnens, she emphasizes the unique atmosphere at the Consortium, oscillating between topicality and interdisciplinarity - a combination that inspired her research greatly.

In this short film, Lionel Jensen reports on his early academic career, his research focus on the “intellectual history of China” and his time as a Visiting Fellow at the IKGF in 2011. In his research on the oeuvre and heritage of the Confucian scholar Zhu Xi (1130-1200) – one of the most popular Chinese philosophers besides Confucius - he investigates how intellectuals were involved in divination and mythology. Through this relecture, the classification of a “Chinese intellectual” acquires fresh dimensions beyond those classically ascribed to philosophers and intellectuals.

Prof. Lackner, director of the IKGF, envisions in this interview research trajectories of the IKGF. He elaborates on the Chinese reception of Western academia in the 19th and 20th centuries on the one hand, and on the other the significance and role of prognostic techniques in the history of Europe, the USA and China.