Brief Introduction to the Study of Human Nature

Thierry Meynard is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Archives for the Introduction of Western Learning in China at Sun Yat-sen University. He has authored several books, including The Jesuit Reading of Confucius (Leiden: Brill, 2015).Dawei Pan, MD, is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Sun Yatsen University. Pan has published articles on the philosophy of medicine in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Argumentation, Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy, and Philosophy East and West.

“Formatted as facing pages of Chinese (the original language of the work) and English, Meynard and Pan's English translation and annotation of Giulio Aleni's A Brief Introduction to the Study of Human Nature is an impressive rendering of the 17th-century Jesuit missionary/scholar's introduction to China of Aristotelian anthropology [...] In Meynard and Pan's hands, Aleni's testimony to the early modern European encounter with China and the charitable and academic attempt to unite harmoniously two philosophical traditions is made accessible to a new audience. This is yet another impressive addition to the Jesuit Studies series.”J. Sienkiewicz, Benedictine College, in: Choice Connect, July 2021“This book will be useful for sinologists, missiologists, theologians, historians, and anyone interested in the general subject. It presents a bridge in the exchange of ideas between two different cultures during early modern times. It is written on a high scientific level and may well help form the foundation for a further understanding of the history between East and West.”Claudia von Collani, Universität Würzburg. In: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 76, No. 1 (Spring 2023), pp. 294–295.

• AcknowledgmentsList of IllustrationsForeword: Reading Giulio Aleni’s A Brief Introduction to the Study of Human Nature in Light of the Cursus Conimbricensis-“Urtext”Mário S. de CarvalhoIntroductionThierry Meynard, S.J., and Dawei PanA Brief Introduction to the Study of Human Nature / 性學觕述A Brief Introduction to the Study of Human NaturePreface to A Brief Introduction to the Study of Human NaturePreface to The Study of Human NatureForeword to The Study of Human NaturePreface to A Brief Introduction to the Study of Human NatureAppendix: Tables 1–8BibliographyIndex