Thank you very much for this wonderful introduction. Actually, I'm supposed to speak about Donald

Trump in two weeks in Munich about democratization and democracy in the current world, but today

the topic is different. And I hope I may have a chance to talk about my ideas about democracy,

democratization in our current world.

It is a great pleasure to be able to present my idea in front of my beloved colleagues

and friends.

Some of you have become my really good friends during my stay here.

Especially, it is my great pleasure to be able to present my ideas in front of two directors

to whom I am really grateful for all the help I received during my stay here.

I am today extraordinarily concerned because on one hand, the topic I want to speak about

today is very specifically medievalistic.

That is a topic that may interest a very small circle of a medievalist.

On the other hand, as I see, many of my previous speakers must have recognized many of the

present audience are sinologists, so very little chance, very few chances to get to

know about medievalist topics.

It is my sole wish is not to bring the help of you to slip after my presentation.

I have prepared around 15 pages of text.

I will read the text directly and in case you have any problems following me, please

let me know.

Then I will try to improve.

When you have still problems, then please give me the second sign.

I will try to improve again.

When you have the problems still, then please give up.

That is my limitation for today.

Medieval political thought and the art of mastering the human world uncertainty.

We are aware that we will face and have to solve some problems in the process of pursuing

a project.

Unless properly controlled, they may significantly limit the realization of our plan.

Those who wish to create, preserve, and reform the society of human beings, say politicians

and political thinkers, cannot but be, therefore, gravely concerned about such uncertainty.

There are numerous causes of uncertainty outside there.

Throat, earthquake, flood, global warming, war, civil strife, economic recession, all

these natural or man-made problems immediately come to our mind.

But we have to confess that we do not have a complete list of them.

Some are only potentially there and may come into our sight only later, probably as a sudden

surprise.

Some are already known, but we cannot chart the trajectory of its future development with

certainty.

The uncertainty of the world is thus partly an epistemological problem.

That is, it is related to the problem of our limited ability of diagnosis and prognosis.

The developments of analytical tools like new conceptual frameworks or technological

infrastructure like supercomputers may help us understand the high-level to un-clarified

problem and the enormous change of perception of the uncertainty of the world.

Of course, the development of such a paratarsic tool can eventually introduce a new kind of

uncertainty as apocalyptic scientific fiction loves to depict.

The problem of uncertainty becomes radicalized when we recognize that such limitation imposed

on our knowledge, our power of analysis and prognosis is existential.

That is, can never be fundamentally removed from our human conditions.

Such a radicalized conception of uncertainty then triggered a significant philosophical

deliberation.