Aristotelian logic and China

Jesuit missionaries and Chinese literati first introduced Aristotelian logic to China during the late Ming dynasty (in the first half of the 17th century). They collaborated to translate this specific part of the Cursus Conimbricensis, a set of commentaries on Aristotle’s philosophy developed by Jesuit philosophers in Coimbra, Portugal, which had become a popular manual of philosophy used throughout the world. In Jesuit Logic and Late Ming China, scholars examine the significant legacies of introducing Aristotle’s philosophy to Chinese culture. Their different perspectives shed new light on the challenges, successes, and failures of the dialogue on the art of reasoning between China and the West in the early modern period. Jesuit Logic and Late Ming China was edited by Cristiano Casalini, an associate professor and endowed chair in Jesuit pedagogy and educational history at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development and a research scholar with the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies at Boston College. Casalini also wrote the introduction and two chapters for the volume. Jesuit Logic and Late Ming China is a publication from the IJS Studies imprint of the Institute for Jesuit Sources, housed at the IAJS.