“Beauty” is a very important concept in Pre-Qin Confucian aesthetics. Pre-Qin Confucian aesthetics generally had two viewpoints when defining beauty: Negatively, by stressing that “beauty” in the aesthetic sense was not “good”; and positively, by stressing two factors: one, that beauty was related to “feeling” which was not an animal instinct, the other was that “beauty” was a special texture with a particular meaning. “Beauty” in Pre-Qin Confucian aesthetics may be defined as “texture (or (...) form)” capable of communicating feeling or triggering a reaction of feeling. (shrink)

China's traditional religious music is deeply rooted in the folk life and labor. Studying the influence of Confucian music aesthetics on ancient religious music and the establishment of modern music aesthetics has an important influence and the significance of learning from it. Studying the music aesthetics of Confucianism in the pre-Qin period can scientifically inherit and carry forward the traditional ritual and music civilization, combine the essence of China's traditional religious music aesthetics with reality, and (...) explore the music theory that meets the needs of today and can promote the healthy development of society. As the most popular and in-depth art form, music plays an inestimable role in the growth of contemporary college students. Firstly, this paper expounds the relationship between Confucian music aesthetics and China's ancient traditional religious music art and puts forward that we should draw nutrition from China's ancient and profound culture to improve the artistic quality of contemporary college students. Then, from the angle of ethics, it explains the deep connotation of Pre-Qin Confucian musical aesthetics, and tries to sort out its ideological system logically, hoping to expand the research of Pre-Qin Confucian musical aesthetics. (shrink)

The theory about human desire is one important component in early Confucian theory of humanity. It is worth our attention that Pre-Qin Confucians never put human desire at the absolute opposite position to the Heavenly Principle, as their successors do. Contrarily, they generally believe that the desire is the inseparable property of normal human nature, and making efforts to satisfy the human desire is reasonable. Only in terms of reducing the conflicts between human desire and the limited resources they (...) advocate a moderate abstinence. [key words] Pre-Qin Confucianism; the theory of human nature; human nature is good; human desire. (shrink)

Resumo: O componente atual de educação moral nas escolas primárias enfrenta desafios significativos. O comportamento cotidiano de muitos alunos do Ensino Fundamental parece excessivamente egocêntrico e pragmático, potencialmente impactando negativamente seu crescimento futuro e desenvolvimento de caráter. Isso pode influenciar ainda mais a atmosfera social, nas próximas décadas. Assim, resumir e refletir sobre teorias e métodos na educação primária, alterar abordagens de ensino e melhorar a qualidade da educação moral são questões cruciais. A transformação na educação requer uma teoria filosófica (...) fundamental. Esta pesquisa sugere que extrair do conceito de “retidão e lucro”, enraizado no confucionismo pré-Qin, é uma referência valiosa. A perspectiva confucionista pré-Qin sobre retidão e lucro está no cerne do pensamento confucionista pré-Qin e influiu profundamente na história chinesa, por milênios. Sua contemplação sobre “retidão” e “lucro” continua a ter um impacto de longo alcance, nos tempos contemporâneos. Para fornecer uma base filosófica à teoria da educação primária, examina-se a essência do conceito confucionista pré-Qin de “retidão e lucro”. Além disso, traçar seu desenvolvimento histórico fornece insights para essa transformação. Em termos de teorias educacionais atuais, a revisão concentra-se em teorias centradas no ser humano na educação primária. Finalmente, é feita uma proposta para integrar o conceito confucionista pré-Qin de “retidão e lucro” com teorias centradas no ser humano, na educação primária, acompanhadas por estratégias de ensino correspondentes. De acordo com as descobertas desta pesquisa, os conceitos de retidão e lucro eram mutuamente exclusivos, completamente, em seus estágios iniciais. No entanto, durante a evolução de várias dinastias, os dois conceitos gradualmente ganharam elementos de apoio mútuo. Esta investigação visa a sugerir melhorias para o nível de educação moral, no ensino primário atual, e promover a herança da cultura tradicional chinesa, por meio da integração da visão confucionista pré-Qin de retidão e lucro e da teoria da educação primária orientada para as pessoas. (shrink)

In the winter of 1993, a large number of bamboo slips was excavated from a Chu tomb in Jingmen Guodian in Hubei; all of these were texts. In the past few years, this news has been circulating among scholars inside and outside of China; but, the publication in May 1998 of the Guodian Chu mu zhujian, by Wenwu Press, still caused a great stir in the academic world, because this cache of ancient texts is indeed very rich and very precious.

The view of human in Confucian philosophy in Pre Qin Dynasty arose not only from the change in socio-economic conditions but also from the deterioration of social morality. Facing that situation, thipkers of this period began to study human to come up with solutions to help the rulers stabilize society. Despite the presence of past studies on the topicand views on people in Confucian philosophy during the Pre Qin period, there (xists gaps for further research. This study attempted (...) to understand through a document review and extensive in-depth research procedure the theoretical underpjnnings of the perspectives on the origin of man, on human nathře, on hụman rples and positions and on educating people in order to develop perfect people and maintain civil order in society. The methodology used was documehtation research and content analysis of the data collected. The document reséafch method was particularly helpful in investigating categorizing and analyzing physical sources, most commonly written documents in the social, public or dígital world. The study found out that the Confucianism represents a legitimate doctrine of the Pre Qin philosophy to build social stability social harmony and peace. The Confucianists of Pre Qin also advocated the need for a personal cultivation, cultivation of the body, family, country, and the whole world, and use it as the basis of the methodology for governing the country. Howeyer, for this purpose, the study recommends that people need to be educated to know the way to be human. (shrink)

The philosophical pursuits of ancient civilizations, notably the Pre-Qin Chinese and Ancient Greeks, revolved around the concepts of "Dao" and "Truth" respectively. These foundational ideas not only shaped their respective cultures' views on metaphysics and ethics but also influenced their understanding of the divine and human nature. This paper examines the conceptual parallels and distinctions between "Dao" in ancient Chinese philosophy and "Truth" in ancient Greek philosophy, emphasizing their implications for religious and ethical thought. Despite significant advancements in international relations (...) theory in China since 1978, contemporary Chinese scholarship has yet to develop a comprehensive theory influenced by ancient philosophical principles. This research revisits the Pre-Qin texts, particularly focusing on the Confucian concept of "Harmony," which has perennially shaped the moral and psychological fabric of Chinese society. By comparing these ancient notions, this paper seeks to contribute to the philosophy of religion by illustrating how these classical ideas offer valuable insights into modern issues of global ethics and public mental health. (shrink)

본고는 일반적으로 도덕철학으로 인식되어 오던 유가의 텍스트를 미학으로 독해할 수 있는 근거를 찾기 위한 시도이다. 유학은 일상생활에서 克己와 寡慾을 통해 스스로의 사사로운 욕망을 억제하여 禮에 합당한 말과 행동을 하라고 가르친다. 이를 仁이라 하였다. 공자는 '仁'을 밥을 먹는 가운데에서도 잃지 않아야 하고 몸을 죽여서라도 지켜야 하는 당위적 목표로 제시하였다. 이처럼 당위성이 강조될 때 현실의 자유로운 삶은 방해를 받는다. 도덕철학으로서의 유학이 반미학적으로 보여 지는 이유가 여기에 있다. 미학은 自利的 욕구를 떠나서 논의될 수 없기에 도덕과 대립적 관계에 있는 것으로 여겨진다. 하지만 유학적 사유 (...) 안에는 미적 판단과 도덕적 판단이 연관되어 있다. 현대 학문의 분류상에서 볼 때 윤리학과 미학은 분리된 영역이다. 그러나 유학 안에는 예와 악이 단단하게 균형을 이루고 있으므로 이를 분리하는 것은 억설일 것이다. 이러한 문제의식에서 본 논문은 미학적 프레임에 근거하여 유학의 도덕론을 포섭할 수 있음을 논증하고자 하였다. 본고에서는 미학이 서구 근대에 성립될 당시의 그 학문적 정체성에 관하여 살펴보고, 미학의 핵심 문제가 이성적 시각이 아닌 감성적 주체로서의 세상보기에 있음을 밝혔다. 유가 도덕론은 정으로부터 출발하고, 정의 보편성은 도덕을 통해 획득되며 또한 도덕이 궁극에는 즐거움이라는 정적 사태로 귀결된다는 점을 밝혔다. 유학에서 도덕은 내면의 자발적 정서로 발현될 때 그 진가가 인정된다. 남에게 차마하지 못하는 마음이 바로 도덕성의 표현이며 동시에 미적 정서이다. 내적 욕구가 저절로 드러남으로서의 도덕성은 어떤 목적과 결과를 기대하는 것이 아닌 자연성의 발로이다. 일반적으로 도덕적 가치는 利他的 결과를 가져온다. 반면 미적 가치는 自利性을 그 출발로 삼는다. 유가윤리학은 自利的 요구에서 출발한다는 점에서 유가미학과 공동 영역에 있다. 또한 유가미학은 自利性에서 출발하더라도 궁극적으로 利他性이 실현될 때 미적 가치로 받아들여진다는 점에서 윤리학과 서로 공유된다. 그러므로 유가를 대표하는 개념에는 모두 자리성과 이타성이 공존한다. 결국 유가의 길은 자리성에서 출발하여 이타성으로 귀결된다. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Reviewed by:Images of Women in Chinese Thought and Culture: Writings from the Pre-Qin Period through the Song DynastyXiufen LuImages of Women in Chinese Thought and Culture: Writings from the Pre-Qin Period through the Song Dynasty. Edited by Robin R. Wang. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2003. Pp. xiv + 449.Images of Women in Chinese Thought and Culture: Writings from the Pre-Qin Period through the Song Dynasty, edited by Robin R. (...) Wang, is an excellent collection of English translations from the Classical Chinese of writings on women. As the title indicates, the book starts with writings from before the founding of the Qin, China's first bureaucratic state, in 221 B.C.E., and ends with the Tang and Song dynasties (618-1279 C.E.), a period that has been considered the richest in Chinese history in terms of literature and art production.The anthology includes fifty-four selections arranged in five parts based on a conventionally accepted chronology of the texts. There is a brief introduction at the beginning of each selection that helps familiarize the reader with the texts and the historical and cultural context out of which women's issues have arisen. The first two parts include selections from oracle-bone inscriptions, the earliest Chinese writings ever discovered; texts from the major ancient philosophical schools, such as Confucianism, Daoism, Mohism, and Legalism; and folk literature together with poems by some of the best-known poets of their time. These writings not only encompass the intellectual foundations of Chinese civilization but also provide valuable sources for understanding how perceptions of gender relations have been shaped by the Chinese cosmological and philosophical view of the world. In text number 3, the Classic of Changes (Yijing), women and men are understood as the highest embodiments of yin and yang, the two fundamental forces that characterize the development of the universe. Since these forces are understood as both hierarchical—as they are manifested in the interrelation between the earth and sky—and, more importantly, complementary to each other, women's roles in family and society are thus recognized as distinct from, yet complementary to, those of men.In part 3, the reader is led through the Han (202 B.C.E.-220 C.E.), China's longest-lived dynasty. Writings from this period reveal the processes by which the ancestral wisdom, especially the Confucian Classics, were codified through government-sponsored scholarship. The writings of Dong Zhongshu (195-115 B.C.E.) and The Comprehensive Discussion in the White Tiger Hall (Baihu tong) were two of the texts responsible for the establishment of the official Confucian ideology of the Han. Texts drawn from this period also include works by Ban Zhao (45-114 C.E.), China's first and most influential female historian and scholar. Her writings were originally intended as moral guidance for women and were regarded in Chinese society as key texts in women's education up to the twentieth century.The six selections included in part 4 are comparatively less well known to English readers, except for The Ballad of Mulan, which became popular in the West after the story of Mulan was made into an animated movie in 1998. The other writings in this part have only been translated into English since the 1970s. Among them, [End Page 496] English versions of Family Instructions to the Yan Clan and Women in the Standard Histories were prepared especially for this volume. These writings reveal how Neo-Confucianism and Neo-Daoism became the principal approaches to comprehending the social reality and gender relations following the chaotic disintegration of the Han dynasty, and they help explain the increasing dominance of Confucian ideology and its implications for women.Finally, in part 5, there are included among other selections some well-crafted love stories written in the classical language by eminent men of letters and works by several great poets (both men and women) of the Tang and Song periods. In this section there are writings by some of the most familiar names of the period, such as Bojuyi (772-846 C.E.), Yuan Zhen (779-831 C.E.), and Li Qingzhao (1081-1151 C.E.). These authors have... (shrink)

Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt/M., New York, Oxford, Wien Schweizer Asiatische Studien. Monographien. Bd. 43. Herausgegeben von Robert Gassmann. This book deals with the ru, a word too often understood as a reference to 'Confucian literati'. The study consists of two parts. In the first part the author discusses the problem of the origins of the ru and presents the main hypotheses offered by modern Chinese scholars in this respect. The second part examines the status and nature of a number (...) of ru at a very important period in their history, namely the Qin dynasty and the early Han dynasty (3rd to 2nd centuries B.C.), with the interpretation of famous episodes such as the 'execution of literati' in 212, and the so-called 'victory of Confucianism' one century later. Contents: The ru - from early times to the beginning of the twentieth century - HuShi's Shuo ru - Criticism of Hu Shi's Shuo ru - After Hu Shi: variations on the wang guan shuo - Other recent theories on the origins of the ru - The Erudites (boshi) until the early Han dynasty - The execution of 212 B.C. - The ru during Emperor Gaozu's reign - The ru under Emperor Wu's rule. (shrink)

本书主要讨论了先秦时期几种主要话语体系中“观”所具有的内涵结构，并进而讨论了“观”在这些话语体系以及后世几种重要理论中所呈现出来的诗性建构。.

This paper brings a fresh, epistemic perspective to bear on prominent Confucian philosophers’ arguments for a hybrid Deweyan-Confucian democracy, or for an illiberal democracy with “Confucian characteristics.” Reconstructing principles for epistemic elitism and paternalism from the pre-Qin 秦 Confucian thought that inspires these advocates for Confucian democracy, it finds two major problems with their proposals. For those who abandon or modify this epistemic elitism and paternalism in accordance with , the result is a philosophical syncretism (...) that is either unconvincingly Confucian or unconvincingly Deweyan. For those who retain it in accordance with , the result is a democratic proposal that will lack legitimacy in increasingly pluralistic East Asian societies. In the end, there is a need for thinking that appropriately synthesizes Eastern and Western philosophies in a politically changing East Asia, but it would benefit from being less “Confucian.”. (shrink)

The Chinese character, he (和), “harmony,” occurs more than 100 times in the Liji (禮記; the Book of Rites). This accounts for over one‐third of the term's total number of occurrences in the 13 pre‐Qin Confucian classics. In this study, we engage with existing scholarship on the concept of “harmony” in Chinese culture and contribute to the discussion by analyzing the variety of senses that “harmony” has in the pre‐Qin Confucian classics, especially the Liji. We find that usages (...) of the term “he” (“harmony”) in the Liji fall into six categories, namely, self, external things, music, human relations, politics, and the universe. We hold that the ways in which harmony features in the Liji and other Confucian classics can help us understand the Chinese cultural presupposition that there exists “only one world,” meaning that this world encompasses both the natural and the supernatural, and that human beings are a holistic blend of body and heart‐mind, which does not give rise to any dualistic tension between body and mind. Based on our understanding of the unique Chinese worldview and the corresponding view on life, this study aims to give an account for the importance of harmony as a guideline within various areas of Chinese life. (shrink)

As a social and political thought, communitarian ideas appeared in the Pre-Qin Confucianism. By the Song Dynasty, it had become a systematic theory, namely, the learning of the “four books.” As a social and political theory, not only can Confucian communitarianism contribute to Western liberalism, but it can also be an intellectual resource for the development of democracy in East Asian countries and regions. The future of the Confucian communitarianism lies in its critique of itself and its discourse (...) with Western liberalism, by which Confucianism evolves from communitarianism into liberalism. (shrink)

This essay focuses on the unity of several virtues in pre-Qin Confucians. Confucius maintains the proper application and coherence of such virtues as benevolence, wisdom, trustworthiness, straightforwardness, courage, and firmness. Further, Confucius takes benevolence and nobility as characteristic of human being. Particular attention is paid to the distinction and relationship between virtuous characters and virtuous actions.

This paper compares criticisms of Singapore’s meritocracy, especially against its impact on income disparities and class divisions, with Michael Sandel’s critique of the meritocratic ethic in the United States. Despite significant differences in their history and politics, meritocracy has similar dysfunctions in both societies, allowing us to draw theoretical conclusions about meritocracy as an ideal of governance. It then contrasts Sandel’s communitarian critique of meritocracy with recent Confucian promotion of political meritocracy and meritocratic justice and argues that the (...) class='Hi'>Confucian principle of “promoting the virtuous and talented” is different from the contemporary conception of meritocracy. Textual evidence indicates that a Confucian understanding of “merit” is contrary to the technocratic expertise of contemporary meritocracies. Furthermore, pre-Qin Confucian texts do not support a conception of justice that emphasizes individual desert; they address distributive problems from the perspective of needs and sustaining social relations. The texts also support limiting the reign of merit when it results in inequalities that cause suffering, inhibit personal cultivation of some groups, or undermine social relations. The paper concludes with an assessment of Singapore’s on-going attempts to improve its meritocracy from a Confucian perspective. (shrink)

This paper discusses the structural relationship between ideals on pleasure and pleasure as a human psychological phenomenon in Chinese thought. It describes the psychological phenomenon of pleasure, and compares different approaches by pre-Qin Confucian and Daoist scholars. It also analyzes its development in Song and Ming Confucianism. Finally, in the conclusion, the issue is transferred to a general understanding of happiness, so as to demonstrate the modern value of the classical ideological experience.

In his most recent book, Against Individualism: A Confucian Rethinking of the Foundations of Morality, Politics, Family, and Religion, Henry Rosemont defends against those who would call his reading of Confucianism—he sees it as a type of Role Ethics—a misinterpretation. Rosemont contends that Confucian Role Ethics is important for challenging individualism, even if it is somehow unfaithful to pre-Qin texts. He writes that he could "simply re-title" his book "Role Ethics: A Different Approach to Moral Philosophy Based on (...) a Creative Misreading of Early Confucian Writings". In Confucian Propriety and Ritual Learning: A Philosophical Interpretation, Geir Sigurðsson... (shrink)

As a social and political thought, communitarian ideas appeared in the Pre-Qin Confucianism. By the Song Dynasty, it had become a systematic theory, namely, the learning of the “four books.” As a social and political theory, not only can Confucian communitarianism contribute to Western liberalism, but it can also be an intellectual resource for the development of democracy in East Asian countries and regions. The future of the Confucian communitarianism lies in its critique of itself and its discourse (...) with Western liberalism, by which Confucianism evolves from communitarianism into liberalism. (shrink)

Recent interest in Confucianism has a tendency to suffer from essentialism and idealism, manifested in a variety of ways. One example is to think of Confucianism in terms of the views attributed to one representative of the tradition, such as Kongzi or Mengzi or one school or strand of the tradition, most often the strand or tradition associated with Mengzi or, in the later tradition, that formed around the commentaries and interpretation of Zhu Xi. Another such tendency is to think (...) of Confucianism in terms of its manifestations in only one country; this is almost always China for the obvious reasons that China is one of the most powerful and influential states in the world today. A third tendency is to present Confucianism in terms of only one period or moment in the tradition; for example, among ethical and political philosophers, pre-Qin Confucianism-usually taken to be the writings attributed to Kongzi, Mengzi, and, if we are lucky, Xunzi -often is taken as. (shrink)

This paper reexamines the concept of filial piety from a specific perspective, asking how filial piety is performed by and observed on the body. I argue that in pre-Qin and Han Confucian texts, there was a strong anxiety over the potential hypocrisies of filial deeds; that is, the fact that filial piety could be abused and transformed to become a mere show intended for gaining fame and reputation. Because of this, early commentators felt the need to create methods and (...) criteria for evaluating filial piety. One important way to do this was to examine how filial piety was materialized through the ritual performance of the body. Filial piety was thus embodied and evaluated in terms of corporality. Ironically, this embodiment of filial piety had its own paradox as filial piety could become oversimplified as physical care of the parents and the ritual of xiao be reduced to a performance. (shrink)

No Matter What the original meaning of "Ru" was, looking at it from the perspective of the history of philosophy, the image of "Ru" as portrayed by other schools in the Warring States period was infused with the characteristics of Confucianism of that time. The self-understanding of Warring States Confucians expressed by their employment of the character "Ru" clearly displayed Ru's character as well as the main points of the Ru school, namely Confucianism. In particular, the words and thoughts of (...) Xunzi, the great Confucian master, on "Ru", epitomize Pre-Qin Confucian's understanding and expectations of themselves, and also reflect the Confucian new pursuit in facing the age of the uniflcation of Qin. /// 不管"儒"字在宇源上的原始意义如何，从学术史的观点来看，战国时代的 其他学派对"儒"的思想刻画，己经鲜明地呈现出儒家的思想特质:而战国儒学在 运用"儒"字上所表达的自我理解，更突出显现了"何为儒之人格，何为儒家的学 说宗旨"在当时的通行理解。尤其是，战国末期的儒学大师苟子对"儒"的理解， 作为战国时代评论各家"儒"的总结性代表，集中体现了先秦儒家的自我理解和自 我期许，同时也反映了儒家因应秦的统4 的时代即将到来的新的追求。. (shrink)

In recent years, philosophical ideas developed during the Wei-Jin period, broadly referred to as xuanxue in Chinese and ‘Neo-Daoism’ or ‘Dark Learning’ in English, have been accorded increasing attention in academia. This article provides an introduction to some major thinkers of the Wei-Jin period, addressing both their original writings and recent scholarly interpretations. The article aims to demonstrate that many Wei-Jin period intellectuals formed their theories through reinterpreting the relationship between texts associated with Daoism and Confucianism. Thinkers of this period (...) often attempted to show how these defining ‘schools’ of pre-Qin Chinese thought did not propose theories that were fundamentally inconsistent, and that their ideas could be woven together as elements of a coherent view. This intellectual movement can thus be, and often has been, viewed as an attempt to integrate Daoism and Confucianism. However, a more nuanced reading demonstrates that these thinkers were reworking the relationship between what were seen as predominately Daoist or Confucian themes from their very foundation. Accordingly, the common description of Wei-Jin thinkers as ‘Daoist’ is decidedly incongruous. (shrink)

Mencius’ aesthetics unfolded around the ideal personality in his mind. Such an ideal personality belonged to a great man who was sublime, practical and honorable, and it was presented as the beauty of magnificence or the beauty of masculinity. Mencius put forward many propositions such as the completed goodness that is brightly displayed is called greatness, nourishing one’s grand qi 气 (the great morale personality), only after a man is a sage can he completely suits himself to his own (...) form, the saints only apprehended before me that of which my mind approves along with other men, being conscious of sincerity on self-examination, and flowing abroad, above and beneath, like that of Heaven and Earth, all of which described an ideal personality through the course of its formation and its psychological experience. As a prominent school before the Qin dynasty, Mencius’ aesthetics greatly developed the Confucian teaching of internal sage. It shared many similarities with Zhuangzi’s thought and was also an aesthetic mode opposed to the latter. Both kinds of aesthetics were prominent: Mencius’ teaching was like imposingly towering and muscularly overflowing majestic mountains; Zhuangzi’s thought was like gracefully flowing water with an air of femininity. In real life though, Mencius’ teaching has greater practical significance in addressing the unbearable lightness of being, a disease of modernity. (shrink)

No matter what the original meaning of “ Ru ” was, looking at it from the perspective of the history of philosophy, the image of “ Ru ” as portrayed by other schools in the Warring States period was infused with the characteristics of Confucianism of that time. The self-understanding of Warring States Confucians expressed by their employment of the character “ Ru ” clearly displayed Ru ’s character as well as the main points of the Ru school, namely Confucianism. (...) In particular, the words and thoughts of Xunzi, the great Confucian master, on “ Ru ”, epitomize Pre-Qin Confucian’s understanding and expectations of themselves, and also reflect the Confucian new pursuit in facing the age of the unification of Qin. (shrink)

The research concept of the "regionalization of Confucianism" has been extracted as an "ideal type." It can be summarized approximately under the dual aspects of premodern intellectuals as "using the Way to oppose power" and "using the Way to supplement power." At the same time, the process of the "regionalization of Confucian learning" was complete. This created positions for spatially mobile intellectuals both within the professional bureaucratic class and in the class of popular gentry scholars . Thus relief is (...) provided for the worrying situation of the split between the "transmission of the Way" and the "transmission of control" that has been a perplexing matter since pre-Qin times. (shrink)

Four important virtues of a woman in the Confucian perspective include Works (being chaste, monogamous, and a virgin when married), Comportment (beauty), Speech, and Conduct (morality, Ethics). These virtues have profoundly influenced the conception of the role of women in traditional Vietnamese culture. Excessive focus on family roles and traditional values limits women's opportunities and rights in the public, political and economic spheres. However, in recent years, Vietnam has made significant progress in realizing gender equality. Investments in education, legal (...) rights, and economic and social development have opened up many opportunities for women to participate in the public sector and contribute to the country's development. In this article, we will focus on clarifying issues such as: Presenting and analyzing four important women's virtues from the point of view of Confucianism in the Pre-Qin period; Finding answers to the questions raised and pointing out the contribution of four important women's virtues from a Confucian point of view in realizing gender equality in Vietnam. (shrink)

I propose and argue for an account of humility in Zhuangzi, which I call perspectival humility. In the opening of the article, I will present a view of humility found in pre-Qin Confucian texts; then, I will explain the idea of Zhuangist humility, which provides a contrast to Confucian humility. Zhuang Zhou does not think that any ideas of right and wrong can be absolutely correct. People must see that their beliefs may not be absolutely correct, and should (...) always consider alternative perspectives. Those who recognise the limitations of their perspective are led to perspectival humility. Moreover, perspectival humility encourages people to learn extensively and to harmonise the differences between other perspectives. The Zhuangist approach takes various perspectives into account and is an inclusive notion of humility that prompts people to appreciate different ways of life, engages in harmonious social relationships, and preserves cultural diversity. (shrink)

Yuejiao was the primary form of education ever since the time of Emperors Yao and Shun. This tradition of valuing Yue over Li lasted till the Three Dynasties period. After the Spring and Autumn Period, Lijiao became the dominant form, but it still consisted of a lot of yue. Seeing the declining of this tradition, Confucius claimed to “follow upon Zhou”. That is, he wanted to recover and inherit this ideology that engages primarily in music cultivation supplemented by ritual normalization. (...) His statement: “Let a man be first incited by the Songs, then given a firm footing by the study of ritual, and finally perfected by music,” also shows his emphasis on Yue. More proofs can be found in Confucian classics such as Analects and the Record of Rites, in which discourses on/ about beauty and goodness are characterized by the juxtaposition of Li and Yue to serve a higher purpose for the pre-Qin Confucians. However, this ideology was not inherited by later Confucians. And the consequence is with the increasing status and impact of Confucianism in China in the past 2500 years, such a tradition of valuing Yue over Li gradually turned into a tradition of valuing Li over Yue. This, however, is inconsistent with both Confucius’ ideology of Li and Yue and the real characteristic of Chinese cultural tradition. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to show, first, that ritual in general and the Confucian li in particular can serve an important pedagogical function, and, secondly, that the sophisticated treatment of li by Confucius and his immediate followers demonstrates that they were consciously aware of this particular potential of li. The discussion takes off by considering formal, ritualized performances from an educational point of view by making use of some seminal, largely Western, research on ritual, though always with (...) an eye on li. It then turns more specifically to li as exemplifying informal interpersonal conduct, whereby pre-Qin Confucian writings will be consulted to construct an interpretation of li as creative and personalized edifying embodiments of a cultural legacy. It will be argued that both aspects of ritual, formal and informal, are potentially of value as a pedagogical tool for instilling a communal sense in the practitioners as well as enabling them to contribute creatively to the ongoing evolution of their cultural habitat. (shrink)

In this book, the author adopts the methodology of "discussing philosophy by studying history of philosophy". The chapters in the book discuss the essential content of The Study of Renxue Ontology, Ren's development in pre-Qin (before 206BC) and Han period (206BC-220), Ren theories in Song Dynasty (960-1279) and Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It covers topics ranging from Confucius and Mencius' classic theories to Li Zehou's ontology of emotions as well as the development of Ren in the historical context and its contemporary (...) interpretations. The book develops the theory of Ren and Taoist style of classical Confucianism while critically incorporating modern Chinese philosophical ontology. The resulting philosophical construction incorporates classical Confucian Ren theory and classical Confucian Ren theory and the continuation of and responses to the arguments of modern Chinese philosophy, thus offering a comprehensive and innovative coverage of contemporary Chinese Confucianism. The book combines Chinese contemporary cultural heritage and creative development to promote contemporary Confucianism and harmony between China and the world. (shrink)

In Chinese pre-Qin period, Mohism was the first school that challenged Confucianism. A common view is that Mohists attacked Confucianism by proposing jian ai, often translated as “universal love,” that opposes Confucian “graded love”. The Confucian-Mohist debate on ethics is often regarded as a debate between Mohist “universal love,” on the one hand; and Confucian emphasis on family and kinship, on the other. However, it is misleading to translate jian ai as “universal love,” as it distorts our (...) understanding of the debate. The word jian in classical Chinese means “inclusive,” not “impartial”. The Jian Ai chapters in the Mozi do not object to the idea that our moral practices ought to vary according to our relationship with others and their social positions. Furthermore, Mohist jian ai was not proposed in the first instance to refute Confucian ideas. The Confucian-Mohist debate should not be understood as a battle between nepotism and excessive insistence on impartiality, because both of them advocate that we should care for people in general and that we should maintain close relational ties. (shrink)

In much of pre-Qin political philosophy, including those thinkers usually labeled Confucian, Daoist, or Mohist, at least part of the justification of the political state comes from their views on morality, and the vision of the good ruler was quite closely tied to the vision of the good person. In an important sense, for these thinkers, political philosophy is an exercise in applied ethics. Han Fei, however, offers an interesting break from this tradition, arguing that, given the vastly different (...) goals of moral theory and political theory, it would be disastrous to rely upon the former to undergird the latter. He develops a distinctly amoral political philosophy that avoids many of the problems he sees as arising from a reliance on particular virtues on the part of the ruler or others within the state. In this paper, I analyze the source of normativity in Han Fei’s political philosophy, arguing that he demonstrates a keen understanding of the problems inherent in any system that relies upon moral standards to develop a strong, stable, and prosperous state. Rather, he demonstrates how an understanding of human nature, along with a recognition of facts about the natural world, allows for the development of a non-moral political philosophy that relies on a systematic bureaucracy and an inviolate system of law, one which will be much more successful, he believes, than anything his competitors can construct. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:On Wu-wei as a Unifying MetaphorChris FraserEffortless Action: Wu-wei as Conceptual Metaphor and Spiritual Ideal in Early China. By Edward Slingerland. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Pp. xii + 352. $60.00.This provocative work is the most ambitious general study of pre-Qin thought to appear in more than a decade. It deals with what is increasingly recognized as one of the period's key themes, the ethical ideal of perfected (...) action and the processes of cultivation, or uncultivation, by which it might be achieved. The book has two specific aims, one substantive, one methodological (p. vii). The substantive aim is to show that the notion of wu-wei, which Slingerland renders as "effortless action," functioned as a shared ideal and problematic for both Daoists and Confucians and that internal tensions in this ideal motivated much of the development of Warring States thought (p. 5). The methodological aim is to illustrate the fruitfulness of conceptual-metaphor theory, familiar from the work of Lakoff and Johnson, by employing it to articulate and support the book's substantive theses (p. vii).For Slingerland, wu-wei is "a state of personal harmony in which actions flow freely and instantly from one's spontaneous inclinations... and yet nonetheless accord perfectly with the dictates of the situation at hand, display an almost supernatural efficacy, and (in the Confucian context at least) harmonize with the demands of conventional morality" (p. 7). Slingerland expands on this characterization in various ways, without making it entirely clear how all the features he identifies fit together. On the one hand, he explains that wu-wei is a phenomenological feature of the agent's subjective mental state: "wu-wei properly refers not to what is actually happening (or not happening) in the realm of observable action but rather to... the phenomenological state of the doer" (p. 7), primarily one of effortlessness and unselfconsciousness (pp. 29-33). But wu-wei is also "action that... accords in every particular with the normative order of the cosmos" (p. 5), so beyond its phenomenological features, it must include an objective normative component as well. Another remark suggests that wu-wei fundamentally is not a phenomenological state after all, since "it represents not a transitory state but rather a set of dispositions" (p. 7). Probably these various statements are meant to emphasize that the crux of wu-wei is to achieve and sustain a certain sort of psychological state, which then reliably generates effortless, normatively appropriate, efficacious action.The phrase 'wu-wei' plays essentially no role in Confucian texts and is absent from large chunks of the Zhuangzi. So Slingerland's thesis that wu-wei is the joint [End Page 97] ideal of both Daoist and Confucian thought faces a daunting justificatory challenge, which he proposes to meet by applying conceptual metaphor theory (p. 10). On his interpretation, wu-wei is not to be understood literally, as "non-doing," since in the state denoted by wu-wei, the agent is not actually inactive, doing nothing at all (p. 11). This gap between literal meaning and actual reference indicates that the term 'wu-wei' functions metaphorically, referring to "a metaphorically conceived situation" in which an action occurs even though the agent exerts no effort (p. 11). Slingerland hypothesizes that wu-wei became a technical term for effortless action because it is the most general of a network of conceptual metaphors for effortlessness and unselfconsciousness, including families of metaphors for "following" (p. 29), "ease" (p. 30), and "forgetting" (p. 33). This network expresses a unified, "deeper conceptual structure," appeal to which justifies the claim that "apparently diverse ideals of perfected action" are in fact articulations and developments of a single metaphorically conceived ideal, though the term denoting it—'wu-wei'—may not appear in a particular text (p. 11).Once we have a grip on the conceptual structure of wu-wei through the families of metaphors that constitute it, we can identify wu-wei as a central problematic of pre-Qin thought and trace its development by examining the use of these metaphors in texts from the Book of Odes and the Book of History (chapter 1) through the Xunzi (chapter 7). Each... (shrink)

A persistent feature in Jesuit reports about the late Ming and early Qing was the notion that an enduring peace and concord pervaded the Chinese political system. Although the Jesuits did not invent this association, which was rooted in Greco-Roman historiography, the Jesuit encyclopaedist Antonio Possevino was the first to link the ‘perpetual peace’ and ‘supreme concord’ of the Chinese state to the Confucian intellectual tradition. As the Jesuits’ missionary strategy developed under the tutelage of Matteo Ricci, ‘public peace’ (...) and ‘the calm of the Republic’ came to be perceived as the ultimate purpose of the Confucian precepts and one of the hinges on which the aims of Christianity, Confucianism and natural law can be reconciled. The supreme expression of the link between Confucianism and peace can be found in the Confucius Sinarum philosophus, which presented for the first time an accessible translation of three of the four Confucian classics. Yet while retaining the view that pre-Qin Confucianism espoused peace as a central political aim, the Confucius Sinarum philosophus challenged the view that contemporary China could be regarded as a utopic actualization of Confucian peace. This paper will discuss this shift as an attempt to coopt the Chinese political experience as an argument against the pragmatic political philosophy known as ‘reason of state’, which was perceived by Jesuit thinkers as atheistic and immoral. (shrink)

Aside from the Yue Ji 樂記, the “Xiu Wen 修文” chapter of the Shuoyuan 說苑 is perhaps our richest source of pre-Qin and early Han 漢 Confucian musical thought. Though woven together from earlier sources, “Xiu Wen” nonetheless manages to present its own distinctive expression of the role of music and its relationship to the greater system of ritual institutions. This article undertakes an examination of the chapter’s philosophies of ritual and music, focusing especially on the latter, and in (...) the process attempts to demonstrate what is unique about the text in relation to its forerunners in the realm of musical thought. (shrink)

Wisdom and Philosophy: Contemporary and Comparative Approaches questions the nature of the relationship between wisdom and philosophy from an intercultural perspective. Bringing together an international mix of respected philosophers, this volume discusses similarities and differences of Western and Asian pursuits of wisdom and reflects on attempts to combine them. Contributors cover topics such as Confucian ethics, the acquisition of wisdom in pre-Qin literature and anecdotes of stupidity in the classical Chinese tradition, while also addressing contemporary topics such as global (...) Buddhism and analytic metaphysics. Providing original examples of comparative philosophy, contributors look at ideas and arguments of thinkers such as Confucius, Zhuangzi and Zhu Xi alongside the work of Aristotle, Plato and Heidegger. Presenting Asian perspectives on philosophy as practical wisdom, Wisdom and Philosophy is a rare intercultural inquiry into the relation between wisdom and philosophy. It provides new ways of understanding how wisdom connects to philosophy and underlines the need to reintroduce it into philosophy today. (shrink)

In Mengzi 6A4, Gaozi states that “yì 義 (propriety, rightness) is external, not internal.” In 6A5, Meng Jizi says of yì that “...it is on the external, not from the internal.” Their defenses are met with Mengzi’s resistance. What does he perceive and resist in these statements? Focusing on several key passages, I compare six promising interpretations. 6A4 and a relevant part of 2A2 can be rendered comparably sensible under each of the six. However, what Gaozi says in 6A1 clearly (...) is evidence to Mengzi that, of the six views, Gaozi holds three although he does not convey them in his statement. As for Meng Jiz’s defense of his statement, Meng Jizi cites a special occasion where one is required to act one way even though one would feel a different way. Mengzi’s response has been traditionally interpreted as boiling down to a dissenting opinion about empirical psychology, that the agent on that special occasion would in fact feel the same way as they ought to act. But on a more charitable reading, the point Mengzi makes is conceptual: Though the satisfaction of yì may not require that the feeling and the act align perfectly in this case, cases where the alignment obtains are conceptually prior. This not only refutes Meng Jizi’s statement but also enables a more elegant explanation of why the Mengzi rightly has no record of Mengzi affirming that yì is internal. I conclude that 6A5 itself uniquely favors one interpretation, as far as Meng Jizi’s position is concerned: How one feels is irrelevant to whether one satisfies yì. (shrink)

Covering the historical, social, political, and cultural contexts, The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Chinese Philosophy and Gender presents a comprehensive overview of the complexity of gender disparity in Chinese thought and culture. -/- Divided into four main sections, an international group of experts in Chinese Studies write on Confucian, Daoist and Buddhist approaches to gender relations. Each section includes a general introduction, a set of authoritative articles written by leading scholars and comprehensive bibliographies, designed to provide the non-specialist with (...) a practical and broad overview. Beginning with the Ancient and Medieval period before moving on to Modern and Contemporary approaches, specially commissioned chapters include Pre-Qin canonical texts, women in early Chinese ethics, the yin-yang gender dynamic and the Buddhist understanding of the conception of gender. Considering why the philosophy of women and gender dynamics in Chinese thought is rarely confronted, The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Chinese Philosophy and Gender is a pioneering cross-disciplinary introduction to Chinese philosophy's intersection with gender studies. -/- By bridging the fields of Chinese philosophy, religion, intellectual history, feminism, and gender studies, this cutting-edge volume fills a great need in the current literature on Chinese philosophy and provides student and scholars with an invaluable research resource to a growing field. - See more at: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-bloomsbury-research-handbook-of-chinese-philosophy-and-gender-97814 72569851/#sthash.vFg3oUPk.dpuf. (shrink)

The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Philosophy is a collection of essays on important texts and figures in the history of Chinese thought. The essays cover both well-known texts such as the Analects and the Zhuangzi as well as many of the lesser-known thinkers in the classical and post-classical Chinese tradition. Most of the chapters focus on thinkers or texts in one of three important historical movements: Classical ("pre-Qin") Chinese philosophy, Chinese Buddhism, and the Confucian response to Buddhism ("neo-Confucianism" broadly (...) construed). (shrink)

The concept of having done something wrong is an integral part of normative thinking and thus a human universal. With regard to the early Chinese world of ideas and the resulting Confucian value system, consensus has it that the normative forces of "shame" have played a particularly strong role in the conceptualization and assessments of wrongdoings. This study aims to broaden our understanding of these processes by examining a group of synonyms associated with different states of "guilt" (i.e. the (...) fact of having committed something wrong), in the course of their historical development during the pre-Qin period (appr. 1250-221 BCE). By outlining the synchronic conceptual differences and diachronic changes of these synonyms and framing them in their sociopolitical context, this attempts to relate the early history of a concept that has so far received little scholarly attention. The results of this study offer many surprises and show overall that the concept of guilt in early Chinese texts is much more nuanced than previously assumed. They provide impressive evidence of the emergence and growth of several expert discourses on the subject of guilt, thus challenging the notion of early China as a representative of a "shame culture". (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to identify Confucianism's theory of the public and the private by comparing and analyzing the differences between Confucius’s Confucianism, Mencius’s Confucianism, and the Zhuzixue within the framework of ‘differences in moral and political concepts.’ As a method, we adopt a method to highlight the differences in the meaning in which Confucius, Mencius, and ZhuXi explain and use ‘Ren仁’, and also analyze the causes of those differences. Rather than analyzing the various meanings of Ren仁, this (...) analysis focuses on the social context of the concept of Ren仁.BR/We can see that the concepts of morals and politics are not fixed, but that the thinker's understanding changes according to the context of the times, and the understanding of the public and the private changes accordingly.BR/ Confucius's Confucianism was in the context of an era in which moral and political concepts were separated, while Mencius's Confucianism changed within Confucian school and in the process of ideological justification by ‘all philosophers and scholars during the pre-Qin times(諸子百家)’ as the division between morals and politics became more severe, and Zhuzixue also changed in the context of Taoism or the relationship between Taoism and Buddhism at the time. The competition required a philosophical justification, and in the process, it appears that a theoretical justification for the mind and a cosmology were formed along with it. Depending on the ideological background of each Confucianism, the regulations regarding the public and the private also changed. Starting from the Confucianism of Confucius, the ConfucianismBR/of Mencius, and to the Zhuzixue, the concept of the public and the private was defined based on the social class and status and the faithful performance of Li-Yue(禮樂) appropriate to each community, and gradually internal moral principles became the concept of the public and the private. It has changed to become the standard for. (shrink)

The development of Confucianism has most frequently been divided into three periods: the classical period from Pre‐Qin to Han dynasty, the neo‐Confucian period in (Tang) Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, and contemporary new Confucianism in the 20th and 21st centuries. This chapter is devoted to the third period. If neo‐Confucianism can be seen as a Confucian response to challenges posed by Buddhism, contemporary new Confucianism is a Confucian response to the challenge posed by modern Western ideology. (...) If what is unique about the neo‐Confucian response is to provide a metaphysical foundation for or explanation of classical Confucian values, what is unique about the contemporary Confucian response is its attempt to show that traditional Confucian values and such modern Western values as rationality, modernity, science, and democracy, among others are not only compatible but can also significantly enrich each other. (shrink)

Based on the ethical thinking of the pre-Qin Dynasty, this book discusses the formation and development of traditional Chinese ethics, the refinement of the Confucian ethical normative system and the establishment of its orthodoxy, as well as the deepening and maturation of feudal ethics. The book is simple in style and clear in context. It contains not only the essence of traditional Chinese morality but also the achievements of modern civilization. It analyzes the implications of traditional Chinese ethics on (...) the governance and moral construction of modern society and can be used as a reference for governance and revitalization of the country and moral development. (shrink)

The first contribution, by Mercedes Valmisa, begins by repositioning the Zhuangzi 莊子 as a whole within pre-Qin thought under the impact of newly excavated materials. Moving away from the traditional classification of texts according to schools, it focuses instead on varying approaches to life issues. Centering the discussion on life situations and changes we have no control over, including the unpredictable vagaries of fate (ming 命), it outlines several typical responses. One is adaptation, finding ways to go along with what (...) life demands, and even availing oneself of the new opportunities it brings about. Another is a turning inward, a focus on the inner self, holding on to ethical and other standards and making sure on does the right thing regardless of the outcomes of one's actions. While the former appears in several chapters of the Zhuangzi, notably in chapter 6, the latter is central to the Qiongda yishi 窮達以時 (Failure and Success Depend on Opportunity), a manuscript excavated at Guodian. However tempting it may be to characterize one approach as Daoist and the other as Confucian, they both appear within the Zhuangzi together with a third approach to fate, showing the fluidity of philosophical discussion and the futility of thinking along the lines of traditional boundaries. (shrink)