Peter van der Veer Is Confucianism a Religion or a Secular Moral System?
Peter van der Veer is Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity in Göttingen (Germany). He previously taught anthropology at universities across the Netherlands and the University of Pennsylvania. Van der Veer has been a visiting professor at cutting edge universities in the field of the social sciences, such as the New School in New York, the University of Chicago, and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociales Paris. Van der Veer’s ethnographic interests are nationalism and religion in Asia and Europe. His most recent work focuses on religious nationalism in India and China. Particularly, van der Veer sheds light to the everyday practice of Confucianism in today’s China.
Area of Research
Anthropology, Comparative Religion, Secularism
since 2008
Director
Max Planck Society (more details)
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity
since 2006
University Ambassador for Asia
University of Utrecht
since 2004
Professor
University of Utrecht
2001-2008
Chairman
Board of the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS)
2001-2003
Co-Director
International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM)
1999-2007
Co-Chairman
Indo-Dutch Programme in Alternatives in Development (IDPAD)
1998-2001
Dean
University of Amsterdam
1996-1998
Dean
University of Amsterdam
Faculty of Political and Social Sciences
1992-2004
Professor of Comparative Religion
University of Amsterdam
Social Science Faculty
1992-2004
Director
University of Amsterdam
Research Centre Religion and Society
1990-1992
Associate Professor of Anthropology
University of Pennsylvania
1984-1990
Lecturer in Cultural Anthropology
University of Utrecht
1980-1984
Lecturer in Cultural Anthropology
Free University, Amsterdam
1986
PhD in Anthropology
University of Utrecht
1979
Master
University of Groningen
(Indo-Iranian Studies)
1976
Bachelor
University of Groningen
(Indo-Iranian Studies)
- Review Committee of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Program at Dartmouth College
- Selection Committee German Science Foundation on Exzellenzinitiative
- Social Science Selection Committee Academy of Finland
- Social Science Research Council of the Dutch Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences
- SSRC Working Group on Secularism
© Maximilian Dörrbecker
Max Planck Society
"The Max Planck Society is Germany's most successful research organization. Since its establishment in 1948, no fewer than 18 Nobel laureates have emerged from the ranks of its scientists, putting it on a par with the best and most prestigious research institutions worldwide. The more than 15,000 publications each year in internationally renowned scientific journals are proof of the outstanding research work conducted at Max Planck Institutes – and many of those articles are among the most-cited publications in the relevant field." (Source)
Institute
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity
"This Max Planck Institute is primarily concerned with research into various forms of diversity. In today’s societies, people of varying ethnic and religious backgrounds often live side by side. The spectrum ranges from peaceful multiculturalism to bloody conflict – but when does the one occur and when the other? Through wide-ranging empirical studies and by developing theoretical concepts, the Göttingen-based Institute seeks to broaden our understanding of these issues of human coexistence. The main focus of this work is on basic research, but in some instances it extends as far as advising on political policy." (Source)
Map
When asked about the place of religion in their culture, many Chinese people will answer that China is a secular country with no major impact of religion. However, as PETER VAN DER VEER explains in this video, the Chinese are more religious than this perspective suggests and perform many rituals in their daily life. His research shows that this interpretation of Confucianism results from the historical influence of imperialism and the translation of the Western understanding of the terms ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ to an Asian context. Confucianism is being seen as a moral system directly connected to politics rather than a religion as it has no notion of 'god' and is in many other aspects very different from Western concepts of religion.
LT Video Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10243
Is Confucianism Secular?
- Peter van der Veer
- Beyond the Secular West
- Published in 2016
