The Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Yan. Translated and annotated by Olivia Milburn. Sinica Leidensia, vol. 128. Leiden: Brill, 2016. Pp. xxx + 485. €161, $193.

Spring and Autumn Historiography: Form and Hierarchy in Ancient Chinese Annals. By Newell ann Van Auken. New York: Columbia UniversitY Press, 2023. Pp. xx + 328. $65.

The Gongyang Commentary on The Spring and Autumn Annals: A Full Translation. By Harry Miller. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. Pp. viii + 311. $95.

This essay explores Confucian views on war as seen in the Spring and Autumn Annals . The interpretation is based mainly on the Gongyang Zhuan , supplemented by other authoritative sources in the Gongyang tradition, such as D ong Zhongshu (179-104 BCE) and H e Xiu (129-182). The Spring and Autumn Annals contains three components: facts, words, and principles. This essay explicates the principles for going to war and the principles for conducting a war. (...) The Confucian perspective sheds light on war against enemies of civilization, conditions for waging a preemptive war, punitive expedition, as well as the use of weapons of mass destruction. The Confucian views as presented here are realistic and pragmatic in nature but are also compatible with the humanistic concern of Confucianism. This essay ends with a summary of the salient and sophisticated features of the Confucian views on war. (shrink)

호안국은 理學이라는 송대의 철학 사조를 근간으로 하는 자신만의 독특한 『춘추』 해석을 시도하였다. 그는 天理와 人欲의 대립이라는 구도 속에서 『춘추』 전체를 관통하는 『춘추』의 大義를 밝히고, 그것을 바탕으로 인간 세계의 올바른 윤리를 정립하려고 했다. 그는 『춘추』 속에 기록된 인간 세계의 혼란을 人欲에 의한 天理의 몰락으로 규정하고, 그것을 극복하는 방향으로 나아가는 것, 즉 인욕의 억제를 통해서 천리를 보존하는 것이 『춘추』가 지향하는 최고의 이상이라고 파악했다. 이를 통해 군신관계로 대표되는 인간세계의 다양한 관계 양상을 비판적으로 분석함으로써 인간이 추구해야 할 인륜의 법칙을 확립하려고 했다. 이러한 호안국의 『춘추』해석은 (...) 기존 춘추학과는 차별화되는 宋代만의 고유한 시대적 특징이 반영되어 있기 때문에 학술사적으로도 중요한 의의를 지니고 있다. (shrink)

Zuo Tradition / Zuozhuan 左傳: Commentary on the “Spring and Autumn Annals”. Translated with an introduction by Stephen Durrant, Wai-yee Li, and David Schhaberg. 3 vols. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2016. Pp. xcv + 2147. $240.

西元前256年，周赧王被秦昭襄王所征服。由此，戰國時代最後階段的華夏世界進入三十五年的「後周魯時代」。 本書提出：在此時期周天子不在的政治權威空白時期，實為《荀子》和《呂氏春秋》兩書之出現的主要契機。以這樣歷史背景為主要契機誕生的兩書，其政治哲學的目標便應該在於構想能治理全天下人民之國家的建立──《荀子 》探求未來以禮義治理天下的君王；《呂氏春秋》則向已成為「de facto天子」的秦王，為提升至名正言順的天子，提供政策綱要和實踐細則。 作者根據較為嚴謹的「觀念史／概念史」分析，闡述《荀》、《呂》兩書在思維上、概念上、論述內容上等多層次的思想特質及其歷史角色。期盼本書在戰國秦漢時代的歷史和思想相關議題之探討能夠提供較新的切入點，並擴大 研究視野。.

Throughout the Chinese imperial period, the kaoji (examination of merit) system was used to evaluate bureaucratic officials’ successes and failures. Officials who served commendably were promoted while those who served discreditably were demoted on its basis. In this article, I focus on the kaoji system as described in the “Kao gong ming” (Examining Achievement and Reputation) chapter of the Chunqiu fanlu, an authoritative pre-modern Chinese ethical-political text. I attempt to reconstruct the system and analyze the main features of the underlying (...) theory by which it was administered. First, I explore the main principles and metaphors of the “Kao gong ming” theory of rulership and administration. I argue that it situates the kaoji system within a vision of naturalistic administration and rulership based on the principles of accumulating of goodness, conferring benefit, and eliminating harm, as well as weighing and adapting to specific circumstances. In this context, the kaoji system may be understood as an important instrument of effective rulership based on the principles of nature. Second, I outline the kaoji system and compare it with the Han system of personnel administration. I finish with reflections on the chapter’s dating and authorship, arguing that the “Kao gong ming” is a compilatory Han text with a problematic relationship to Dong Zhongshu. My broader aim is to contribute to our understanding of the Han dynasty’s administrative discourse. -/- 本文旨在研究《春秋繁露》之〈考功名〉（考評官員的政績和口碑）章描寫的封建官僚制度下針對政府官員的「考績」制度，這是最權威的前現代中國倫理政治的文本之一。在這一制度之下，政績突出的官員得以提拔，不稱職的 官員則被降職。本文試圖重建這種績效考覈體系，並分析「考績」制度據以建立的基本理論的主要特徵。首先，本文將探討〈考功名〉章所反映的統治與管理理論的主要原則及其隱喻。筆者認爲它提出了一種自然主義的管理和統 治理念，這種理念基於積善累德、布恩施惠和爲天下除害的出發點，以及將權衡和適應特定的具體情境作爲治理國家的主要原則。在這種背景下，績效考覈制度可以被理解爲一種基於自然原則的有效的治國爲政的重要工具。第二 ，本文將勾勒出一個「考績」制度的框架，並將其置於它所在的歷史背景之下。在以上分析之後，將以對〈考功名〉一章年代和作者考證問題的思考作爲本文的結束。這篇文章的目的和價值在於促進我們對〈考功名〉章和它所描 述的「考績」制度的理解。. (shrink)

朱子는 『춘추』의 大義 파악이 『춘추』 해석의 관건이라고 주장하고, 이를 위한 두 가지 핵심 방법을 제시했다. 첫째, 『춘추』 大義를 이해할 수 있는 객관적 독법, 둘째, 褒貶의 필법이 지닌 허구성에 대한 비판이다. 먼저 『춘추』의 大義는 역사적 사실 속에 담겨 있기 때문에 그 大義의 본질을 밝히기 위해서는 『춘추』의 기록을 객관적인 역사로 바라보는 독법이 요구된다. 다음으로 주자는 대표적인 『춘추』 해석의 기준으로 활용되던 褒貶의 필법을 강하게 부정하였다. 그는 『춘추』의 大義를 제멋대로 천착하고 왜곡하는 포폄의 필법이 제거되어야만 비로소 『춘추』의 진면목을 발견할 수 있다고 주장했다. 이와 같은 해석방법론의 (...) 확립을 위해, 주자는 三傳과 胡安國⋅程伊川의 해석에 보이는 褒貶의 필법을 들어 그 잘못을 비판적으로 검토하였다. 그가 기존의 대표적인 『춘추』 해석의 기준을 과감하게 비판하고, 객관적인 해석방법론을 제시한 점은 학술사적인 가치가 매우 크다고 평가할 수 있다. (shrink)

Explores proper timing and the arts of rulership in the work that inspired China's first emperor.

This chapter will pin down the most outlandish image of Confucius in Chinese history, which comes from a corpus particular to the intellectual and political context of the first two centuries CE China, the apocrypha (chenwei 讖緯). The corpus developed the image of Confucius from earlier ones, such as a thinker, a sage, and an unsuccessful politician. Moreover, apocrypha reflect the intellectual and political changes of the time, especially a growing enthusiasm for an ideal society based on the Five Classics (...) and the restoration of the Han dynasty. The image of Confucius fluctuates in accordance with these changes and becomes that of a prophet and messenger of Heaven who not only encoded his political teaching in his work, the Annals of Spring and Autumn, but also foretold the ascendance of the ruling Liu family. His seemingly outlandish image was rooted in knowledge shared amongst scholars of that time. (shrink)

A major resource expanding the study of early Chinese philosophy, religion, literature, and politics, this book features the first complete English-language translation of the_ Luxuriant Gems of the "Spring and Autumn"_ (_Chunqiu fanlu_),_ _one of the key texts of early Confucianism. The work is often ascribed to the Han scholar and court official Dong Zhongshu, but, as this study reveals, the text is in fact a compendium of writings by a variety of authors working within an interpretive tradition (...) that spanned several generations, depicting a utopian vision of a flourishing humanity that they believed to be Confucius's legacy to the world. The Spring and Autumn (_Chunqiu_) is a chronicle kept by the dukes of the state of Lu from 722 to 481 B.C.E. _The Luxuriant Gems_ follows the interpretations of the _Gongyang Commentary_, whose transmitters belonged to a tradition that sought to explicate the special language of the _Spring and Autumn_. The Gongyang masters believed that the_ Spring and Autumn_ had been written by Confucius himself, employing subtle and esoteric phrasing to indicate approval or disapproval of important events and personages. The _Luxuriant Gems_ augments Confucian ethical and philosophical teachings with chapters on cosmology, statecraft, and other topics drawn from contemporary non-Confucian traditions, reflecting the brilliance of intellectual life in the Han dynasty during the formative decades of the Chinese imperial state. To elucidate the text, Sarah A. Queen and John S. Major divide their translation into eight thematic sections with extensive introductions that address dating, authorship, authenticity, and the relationship between the original text and the evolving _Gongyang_ approach. (shrink)

By examining the propositions “waiting for the proper time to act”, “keeping up with the time”, “accommodating oneself to timeliness”, and “the meaning of a timely mean”, this paper examines the relationship between the idea of time conceived of in Yizhuan 易传 (Commentaries to the Book of Changes ), Zuozhuan 左传 (Annals of Spring and Autumn with Zuo Qiuming’s Commentaries) and Guoyu 国语 (Comments on State Affairs) as well as the related thoughts of Confucianism, Daoism and the (...) Yin-Yang School. It holds that on the foundation established by its predecessors, Yizhuan elevated time to its own category and made the first steps in establishing a theoretical system for time, making an important contribution to the enrichment and deepening of philosophical thought in the pre-Qin period. (shrink)

A major resource expanding the study of early Chinese philosophy, religion, literature, and politics, this book features the first complete English-language translation of the_ Luxuriant Gems of the "Spring and Autumn"_,_ _one of the key texts of early Confucianism. The work is often ascribed to the Han scholar and court official Dong Zhongshu, but, as this study reveals, the text is in fact a compendium of writings by a variety of authors working within an interpretive tradition that spanned (...) several generations, depicting a utopian vision of a flourishing humanity that they believed to be Confucius's legacy to the world. The Spring and Autumn is a chronicle kept by the dukes of the state of Lu from 722 to 481 B.C.E. _The Luxuriant Gems_ follows the interpretations of the _Gongyang Commentary_, whose transmitters belonged to a tradition that sought to explicate the special language of the _Spring and Autumn_. The Gongyang masters believed that the_ Spring and Autumn_ had been written by Confucius himself, employing subtle and esoteric phrasing to indicate approval or disapproval of important events and personages. The _Luxuriant Gems_ augments Confucian ethical and philosophical teachings with chapters on cosmology, statecraft, and other topics drawn from contemporary non-Confucian traditions, reflecting the brilliance of intellectual life in the Han dynasty during the formative decades of the Chinese imperial state. To elucidate the text, Sarah A. Queen and John S. Major divide their translation into eight thematic sections with extensive introductions that address dating, authorship, authenticity, and the relationship between the original text and the evolving _Gongyang_ approach. (shrink)

This paper introduces the Generalized Argumentation Theory which takes argumentation as a locally rational socio-cultural interaction governed by social norms and carried out through discourse between the members of a socio-cultural community in order to reason things out. Then we bring in the basic structure of generalized argumentation and the localized procedure of Generalized Argumentation Theory for studying the argumentative rules. On the basis of above introduction, we use the localized procedure to analyze a case of political argumentation by reciting (...) poems in ancient China. By doing so, it’s indicated that political argumentation by reciting poems, in essence, takes cultural principle of Li of the Spring and Autumn Period as argumentative rules and uses poems to express ideas, in virtue of which arguments are accepted as locally rational by the politicians at that time. At last, the Little Red Book quotation fight, a similar political activity, is discussed briefly to show the significance that ancient Chinese political argumentation has on contemporary argumentation. (shrink)

At present one of the important tasks of the scholarly world is to reevaluate objectively the teachings of Confucius. The discussions of Confucius during the 1960s made a certain amount of progress, but a number of problems remain that were not truly debated in accord with the policy of "let a hundred schools contend." At the time, the self-appointed authority on theory, Guan Feng, disseminated a series of arbitrary theories that had a very unhealthy influence. The later movement to criticize (...) Confucius which was controlled by the "gang of four" included some themes that expanded upon the theories of Guan Feng and which still act as mental blocks to the reopened debate on Confucius. Thus it is essential that we engage in a thorough review of Guan Feng's criticism of the thought of Confucius and liquidate the remaining effects of ultraleftist thought. The present article suggests a few views of my own in an attempt to undertake a preliminary critique of Guan Feng's theory of what he called the three types of "humaneness" [ren] of the Spring and Autumn era [722-481 B.C.]. (shrink)

The Legalist school, which played a progressive role in the history of our country, was a school of thought in direct opposition to the Confucian school. It appeared in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods and had its own particular economic basis and political conditions. The school which through the ages has worshiped Confucius and the chieftains of the opportunist line within our own Party have proceeded from their reactionary political needs to fabricate lies regarding the (...) question of the appearance of the Legalists and to cover over the basic differences between the two classes and lines represented by the Confucians and the Legalists. Therefore, we must uphold the Marxist theory of historical materialism and correctly analyze the economic and political sources of the Legalist school. (shrink)

"Whenever one intends to overturn a political power, one must first create a general view and begin working from an ideological basis. The revolutionaries are like this. The counterrevolutionaries are also like this." [1] During the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, the Legalists, who represented the newly rising landlord class, and the Confucianists, who represented the slave-owning class, engaged in an intense ideological struggle around the central issue of seizing or opposing the seizure of (...) power, restoring or opposing the restoration of the ancient ways. The field of the study of history, which is an organic part of ideology, became an important line of struggle for the Confucianists and the Legalists. (shrink)

'Bao wei quan' 保位權 (‘Preservation of position and power’) (hereinafter: BWQ) is an essay advising rulers on how to preserve their position of power and maintain control over the bureaucracy. It is a part of one of the most authoritative premodern Chinese texts, the Chunqiu fanlu 春秋繁露 (The Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals), which is traditionally ascribed to pivotal Han dynasty scholar Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒 (c. 195–115 BCE). This paper argues that the BWQ establishes (...) a type of naturalistic approach to rulership. In this vision, the state and its social and political order is rooted in the constitution of human nature, and is perceived as a place where human tendencies can be followed and fulfilled, but also controlled. In addition, the BWQ’s political discourse and its view of government is built around complementary processes, such as reward/punishment, political power/moral power, non-action/action, actuality/fam etc. The art of rulership thus consists of keeping these opposites in balance. (shrink)

To study the L shi chunqiu (or L -shih ch'un-ch'iu. Master L 's Spring and Autumn Annals is to enter into the tumultuous but progressive times of the Warring States period (403-221 BCE). 1 This period is commonly referred to as 'the pre-Qin period' because of the fundamental changes that occurred after the Qin unification. Liishi chunqiu was probably completed, in 241 BCE, by various scholars at the estate of L Buwei (L Pu-wei) the prime minister of (...) Qin and tutor to the Qin child King, Zheng. 2 It is one of the few pre-Qin texts that dates itself; the date, though not precise, is given in the xuyi chapter. 3 A decade after the completion of the L shi chunqiu, King Zheng began the ensuing 9 years of fervent warfare that led to his unification of the empire in 221 BCE. Before the political unification, L shi chunqiu created a philosophical consolidation. 4 The Liishi chunqiu performed an important function in the literary and political education of the young King Zheng. More importantly, it provided a philosophical understanding of and justification for a unified empire which left its mark on the young King, and subsequent Han philosophy. After the unification of the empire, King Zheng took the title Qin shihuangdi (First-generation Emperor of Qin), and he established the insignia of water for the imperial emblems, employing concepts from Liishi chunqiu's yingtong (responding and identifying) chapter which describe the succession of dynasties according to the timely cycle of the five phases (wuxing) to justify his new dynasty. 5. (shrink)

『呂氏春秋』는 先秦 諸家의 사상을 집대성하고 古來의 陰陽과 五行의 範疇를 활용하여 天地人 三位一體의 도식을 수립하였다. 이것은 인간을 중심으로 시간과 공간, 하늘과 땅의 사물을 유기적으로 연계시킨 것으로 통일제국을 위한 설계도라고 평가할 수 있다. 구체적으로는 음양과 오행을 결합시켜 우주 만물을 분류하고 도식화하면서 동시에 人事와 연계시켰다. 내용상으로는 정치, 경제, 사회, 군사, 천문, 지리, 의학, 교육, 역사 등 거의 모든 학문 분야를 포괄하고 있다. 특히 전국기에 유행하였던 『逸周書』, 「夏小正」, 『黃帝四經』 등의 문헌과 鄒衍을 비롯한 직하학자들의 사상이 반영된 『管子』에 보이는 月令사상을 종합하였다. 나아가 그것을 구체화 시킨 陰陽 (...) 刑德사상, 현실 政治의 得失과 연계된 災異說을 구체화하고 체계화하였다. 그러나 내용과 형식면에서 고래의 사상과 문헌을 단순히 집록한 것이 아니라 1년 12개월의 방식을 채택하고 정치 사회의 제반 분야로 정령을 확대하였다. 十二紀에서는 陰陽과 五行, 天干과 地支를 결합시키고, 그 과정에서 야기되는 모순을 해고자 季夏에 中央 土를 배당하고 다른 시절과 마찬가지로 그에 해당하는 정령을 배당함으로써 월령 사상을 완성시켰다. 따라서 『여씨춘추』의 음양 오행론 가운데 일부는 비록 선진 제자서에 산견되는 것이지만 전체를 통일적으로 체계화한 것은 사상사적으로 중대한 의미를 지닌다. 무엇보다도 음양과 오행의 결합에 근거한 월령사상은 양자의 물리적 결합에 머물지 않고, 구체적으로 백성의 측면에서의 農業 부문과 지도자의 측면에서의 政治라는 두 측면에서 질적으로 정밀화되었음을 확인할 수 있다. 예컨대 재이설의 근원은 춘추시대에까지 거슬러 올라갈 수 있지만, 정치와 직접적으로 연계된 것은 월령사상과 궤도를 함께한다. (shrink)

Given wuwei 無為 describes the life praxis of the sage and statecraft of the enlightened ruler while also denoting the comportment of the Dao 道—an alternating state of quiet dormancy and creative activity—are the standard translations of wuwei as “nonaction” or “effortless action” up to the task? They are not, it will be argued, in that they fail to convey the true profundity of wuwei. The objective of this essay is twofold: to show that wuwei is better understood as “abiding (...) harmony” than nonaction, and to demonstrate this via a close reading of the Lüshi Chunqiu 呂氏春秋 (Master Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals) which makes wuwei the epicenter of its doctrine of “the Dao of the ruler.” Indeed, the Lüshi Chunqiu’s unique application of wuwei lies not only in its borrowing of Daoist and Legalist norms, but in having the ruler meet the following prerequisites: be without knowledge, keep the senses and heart-mind pure, be reliant on others, follow Yin 陰 and Yang 陽, and study the course of heaven and earth to know the ways of humanity. There is, therefore, more to wuwei than meets the eye. (shrink)

In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods apart from Confucius and Laozi, many other schools of thought—such as Guanzi, Mencius, Xunzi, Lord Shang Yang, Hanfei, Song Xing, Yin Wen, and Mozi—each had their systems of thought. From the Qin-Han period onward, owing to the selective process of history, only Confucianism and Daoism retained a long-lasting influence.

The unification under the Qin and Han dynasties was one of the great events in the history of the development of China. Not only did it establish an authoritarian centralized polity over all China; it also combined what had originally been different peoples and tribes of seven states into one unified people, known as the Han people. In response to the political unification and the merger of these peoples under the Han dynasty, Dong Zhong-shu [c.179-c.104 B.C.] constructed a comprehensive philosophical (...) system, based on the Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, that included a wide range of natural, social, and individual aspects of human life and was used as the theoretical basis of the current unification. At the same time it was an intellectual, philosophical reflection of this unification. (shrink)

Confucian culture has always been the most glorious component of Chinese culture. Governing the mainstream world of China for more than two millennia, it has cast a profound and long-lasting influence on the way of thinking and cultural-psychological formation of the Chinese people. Confucianism emphasizes caring about others with benevolence and governing a state with ethics, reflecting the importance of moral principles for politics. “Ren” and “Li” are important parts of the core values of Confucianism, so analyzing the differences between (...) them and their evolution is of great significance for further understanding Confucian culture. This paper selected 132 classic Confucian works from SikuQuanshu, a large collection of books compiled during the Qianlong’s reign of the Qing Dynasty, to calculate the use of frequency of “Ren” and “Li” in those books by means of big data. Then the data was analyzed to show the development trajectory of “Ren” and “Li” from the Spring and Autumn period to the Qing Dynasty, providing a new perspective for the study of Confucian culture. The analysis result shows that from the Spring and Autumn period to the Qing Dynasty, both the frequencies of “Ren” and “Li” record a peak and a bottom: “Ren” has its peak in the Sui and Tang period while “Li” reaches its climax in the Wei and Jin period ; both “Ren” and “Li” hit their bottom during the Yuan Dynasty. The average frequency of “Li” is higher than that of “Ren” during most of the time. In general, “Li” is more frequently referred to in classic Confucian works than “Ren,” especially in those of the pre-Sui and Tang era. The An-Shi Disturbances in the Tang Dynasty may mark an important turning point for the frequencies of “Ren” and “Li” in classic Confucian works. (shrink)

A new scholarly movement of sorts emerged during the early Han period, associated with the acceptance of certain commentaries (zhuan 傳) on the classic history Chunqiu 春秋 (Spring and Autumn Annals) and related texts, written and complied in the" new script" of Han scholars recompiling early materials. The texts and ideas associated with this movement (although there have long been questions as to just how much of an actual intellectual movement this was) are largely syncretic and constructive (...) in nature. The central text of this" New Text Confucianism," the Gongyang 公羊 commentary on the Chunqiu, was more concerned with offering explanations of what scholars took to be the inherent deeper meanings of the Chunqiu than with reconstruction of early understandings of the text (although proponents certainly also thought that these meanings were inherent in the texts, rather than added or read into them by later thinkers). One way of understanding the" New Text" movement is as a constructive and syncretic response to the modern use of ancient texts during the Han, and as a way to revitalize and systematize the ideas in earlier texts (although the authors of the Gongyang and its proponents in the Han certainly saw the text as expressing the core messages of the Chunqiu, rather than creating their own). The creative and syncretic nature of the" New Text" movement was opposed to what one may see as the historicism of the" Old Text" movement taken as associated with the Zuo 左 commentary and supposed ancient texts advocated by Liu Xin 劉歆 (50 BCE–23 CE). ¹ Later philosophers criticized what they took to be the speculative …. (shrink)

The opposition of "person" [jen] to "people" [min] in the Analects [Lun-yü] was a fundamental contradiction of the slave system of the late Spring and Autumn period. The "people not following their rulers" combined with the insur-rections of the "vassals" and "tradespeople" to become a great motive force for the transition to feudalism; in turn, the splits within the slave-owning class, the so-called "violent acts" of the "rebellious ministers and bad sons," made use of the strength of the (...) people for seizures of political power. (shrink)

Classical Chinese thought slowly formed from the 9th century BCE onward through the Spring and Autumn era but reached its pivotal point during the so-called Warring States era (5th to 2nd centuries BCE). According to historical records, during these three hundred years more than four hundred wars of different scales raged across the Chinese world. These wars brought with them their own consequences like famines and abject poverty, terrible inequality and disillusionment. An intellectual history forming in these conditions (...) understandably and inevitably was influenced by these conditions. In this context, the Hong Kong philosopher Yuk Hui presents his thesis of “cosmotechnics”, the view that merely understanding the world is not enough, it is paramount to change it for the betterment of people’s lives. This is the theoretical underpinning of much of classical Chinese thought, according to Yuk Hui, and therefore also for the drive to acquire knowledge. Thus, one unique aspect of classical Chinese thought is its interminable insistence on how man’s every action must have a reason beyond that action itself and any sort of philosophizing that does not lead to practice in changing the environment for the good of the people inhabiting it, is a wasted and useless thought. Therefore, there are a number of words and concepts related to the acquisition of knowledge in Classical and modern Chinese, like “learning” 學, “teaching” 教, “discussion” 論, “argumentation” 辯, and so on, but all these are encompassed within “the way” 道, specifically the “correct way of doing a thing”, i.e.: actual practice, rather than mere thought alone. I aim to present several examples of this from remote Chinese antiquity and classical Chinese thought within the framework of what I term “cosmotechnical joy” stemming from making people’s lives better. (shrink)

In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, scholarship flourished and the hundred schools contended. The term "the hundred schools" is of ancient origin.

This essay traces changes in the relationship between filial piety and loyalty in early China. During the Spring and Autumn and early-mid Warring States periods, a conflict existed between the two values. Confucian thinkers such as Confucius and Mencius put a priority on filial piety, while Shang Yang 商鞅 regarded it detrimental to the state. However, scholars later tended to reconcile the values, as is evident in the Xiaojing 孝經 and the “Zhongxiao 忠孝” chapter of the Hanfeizi 韓非子. (...) The two texts reconcile filial piety with political authority, and show that the two values are based on the same foundation. Ancient Chinese legal documents are in agreement with the same trend. Early Chinese governments made unfiliality illegal and permitted the head of a family to have very strong authority over other members of the household. Still, governments maintained control of individual households by putting the head of the family’s authority under political authority. (shrink)

Jeremy Bentham came to know Jacques-Pierre Brissot when he was in London between midwinter 1782–3 and summer 1784. They shared some opinions: Brissot indeed saw Bentham to some extent as his mentor. There was never complete accord, however; and Brissot's increasingly radical political views were not at that stage shared by Bentham. In any case, their ways parted with Bentham's prolonged sojourn with his brother in Russia between 1785 and 1788. It was revolution in France that brought renewed contact, though (...) no further personal encounters. By the winter of 1788–9 Bentham was writing, with France in mind, an increasingly elaborate work on parliamentary procedure; and by the spring Brissot was (much more expeditiously) writing and publishing his account of the subject. One element in that work dealt with an issue on which Bentham vigorously opposed Brissot; for it included a strongly argued case for a declaration of rights – something Bentham had already attacked in 1776. He renewed that attack in a letter to Brissot in the late summer of 1789. By the autumn, however, writing to Brissot again, he raised a subject on which the two could sympathise – the importance of asserting popular sovereignty in the new French constitution. That sovereignty, Bentham insisted, must extend to the administration of justice – royal authority must be rigourously excluded from control of the judiciary. The judicial establishment in France was to be Bentham's predominant concern between the winter of 1789–90 and the following summer, and he now had assistance, especially from Etienne Dumont, in translating and publicizing his work. Brissot was probably – though there is no direct evidence – aware of these efforts. In the autumn Bentham's principal concern was the promotion in France of his scheme for a model prison – the Panopticon. That cause was helped by the cordial reception in the National Assembly of his judicial reform proposals. By then he was again in touch with Brissot, whose support he now sought for the Panopticon project – at first with some success. No progress was made in 1793, however, as Brissot's revolutionary career reached first its apogee and then its disastrous end. Many years later, as Bentham's life drew to a close, Brissot's Mémoires served to remind him of their uneasy partnership in the years of revolution. (shrink)

In the year 1842, Thomas Cole (1801-1848) painted a set of four oil paintings entitled THE VOYAGE OF LIFE. As the title indicates, the artist likened life to a voyage. This voyage begins with man emerging as a child from a dark cave into the river of life in a spring setting. As this voyage through the river of life continues, man is seen passing through the stages of youth, manhood, & then finally old age. Likewise, the setting of (...) nature is seen correspondingly passing through the stages of summer, autumn, & then finally winter. Any voyage must have a starting point, destination & duration. Also any voyage is a continuation of some sort of existence, & there is a continuity of existence after the voyage is complete. What is this voyage? Why does it have to exist? What existed before this voyage? What will happen after the destination is reached? Why is it short for some, long for others? Why is it easier for some, harder for others? Daheshism deals with these issues & many others. Daheshism is a revolution in the human approach to philosophy, life & religion. It is a new garment for the body of traditional thought & belief. The aim of Daheshism is to provide a universal belief that encompasses all other beliefs. It accomplishes synthesis rather than fragmentation of religious beliefs & expansion rather than contraction of philosophical thought. To order: P.O. Box 16680-8680, Alexandria, VA 22302. Telephone: 703-845-8223, FAX 703-845-8224 or Baker & Taylor Books. (shrink)

The article is primarily a study of Nietzsche’s unpublished fragments from the period spring-autumn 1881, in which Nietzsche first developed his thought of the “eternal recurrence of the same.” In the article, I attempt to accomplish two goals: the first goal is to explain Nietzsche’s theses on the eternal recurrence, which at that time were still remarkably clear and coherent. And the second goal is to try to find in these same theses an explanation for their future silence. (...) In other words, the article examines the relationship between Nietzsche’s theses that he developed in 1881 and his book _Thus spoke Zarathustra_, which, in Nietzsche’s own words, relies on these theses as their “grounding thought,” but nevertheless never fully reveals them. Both lines of inquiry lead to the conclusion that the core of Nietzsche’s introduction of the idea of eternal recurrence is his concept of _Einverleibung_ or embodiment. Indeed, the analysis shows that Nietzsche’s main concern with the thought of eternal recurrence was not to set forth its clear articulation within consciousness, but rather to construct it in such a way that it could become an unconscious instinct capable of gradually displacing the “embodied mistakes” that dominate our thinking from within itself. (shrink)

This chapter contains sections titled: Of Greek Gods, the Judaeo‐Christian God, and the Sea A Ship Bound for India Beyond the Pillars of Hercules.

The conceptual changes of Jian儉 in the pre-Qin period were the results of changes in the social and political structure. It originally referred to Jian virtue, which was a kind of political norm of clan states. This required the aristocrats to be moderate in accordance with the patriarchal hierarchy and generously share their wealth with their own clansmen. The opposite of Jian virtue is Tan and Chi. In the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, many states formed (...) their politics based on ministerial families. The aristocrats glorified greed and extravagance as Fu, and stigmatized Jian virtue as Pin. After the collapse of the clan-based state order, the states in the Warring States Period gradually developed into territorial states, and the institutional political norm became a new, abstract concept, indicated by the compound Jian Yue and was used to describe the consumption attitudes of individuals and families. Meanwhile, with the increase of social mobility, the pursuit of riches was highly popular in the ideological world. The new expression of “means-ends” advocated by Legalists, which stipulated that individuals and families acquire wealth through Jian Yue, took shape and endures to this day. (shrink)

In ancient Chinese thoughts, de is a comparatively complicated idea. Most of the researchers translated it directly into "virtue", but this translation is not accurate for our understanding of the idea of "de" in pre-Qin times. Generally speaking, in Pre-Qin times, the idea of"de" underwent three developmental periods. The first is the de of Heaven, the de of ancestors; the second the de of system; and the third the de of spirit and moral conducts. In a long period of history, (...) the idea of "de" never cast off the influence of tian Dao (the way of Heaven). It was in Western Zhou Dynasty that the idea of "de" shook off the dense fog of the mandate of Heaven. However, it was the thinkers in Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States who made contributions to bring it deep into people's mind. The ancient Chinese thoughts were mainly concerned with people's recognition and development of their own abilities, with people's seeking harmony and balance between human-beings and nature, and with people's seeking harmonious and balanced human relations. The development of the idea of "de" played a very important role in this context. (shrink)

Upon delving into Chinese philosophy I have come to realize that Chinese philosophy is indeed rich and comprehensive, even though Chinese philosophy and the history of Chinese philosophy are different from the history of Western philosophy. Although Western society and Chinese society follow common laws, each has its own distinctive characteristics. Similarly, while Western philosophy and Chinese philosophy likewise follow common laws, each has its own distinctive characteristics. The scope of the history of Chinese philosophy cannot be determined by that (...) of Western philosophy, nor can the scope of Western philosophy be determined by that of Chinese philosophy. The most outstanding periods of Western philosophy have been the ancient and modern periods. The most outstanding period of Chinese philosophy was that of the Spring and Autumn era through the early Qing period. This was due to the differences between the two societies. In the West, both the slave system and the bourgeois revolution were much more highly developed than they were in China. China had a brilliant feudal culture and subsequently China's brilliant feudal philosophy simply had a different style from that of Western philosophy. I remember that Comrade Hou Wailu came to the following conclusion: that the style of the Western philosopher was that of a wise man [zheren], while the style of the Chinese philosopher was that of a worthy man [xianren], My impressions are similar. Western philosophers usually discussed the problems of cognition and knowledge, while Chinese philosophers usually talked and wrote about questions of politics and ethics. What they have had in common is the fact that both have discussed only the general or universal laws of nature, society, and human thought. This Marxist definition of philosophy has held true both in the East and in the West. It is said that Ridannov defined the history of philosophy as being the history of the beginnings and development of materialism. Not having his works at hand, I cannot substantiate this. But I feel that such a definition is rather narrow. The history of philosophy should discuss the history of the development of man's knowledge of nature, society, and human thought, including both the history of the rise and development of materialism and the history of the rise and development of idealism. Only by interweaving the two can we arrive at a full history of philosophy. I do not know whether or not such an understanding on my part is correct. In any case, I have to write in accordance with my own understanding; otherwise I could not write at all. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:March 13, 2008 (7:35 pm) G:\WPData\TYPE2702\russell 27,2 054.wpd 272 Reviews 1 See Brian J.yL. Berry and Donald C. Dahmen, “Paul Wheatley, 1921–1999”, Annals of the Association of American Geographers 91 (2001): 734–47. THE LIVES OF THOSE WHO WOULD BE IMMORTAL Richard Henry Schmitt U. of Chicago Chicago, il 60637, usa [email protected] David Leavitt. The Indian Clerk: a Novel. London: Bloomsbury, 2008; New York: Bloomsbury, 2007. Pp. 485. isbn (...) 1-59691-040-2. £16.99; us$24.95 (hb). From the start, this novel interested me for two reasons. First, it attempts to tell us the personal stories of two individuals who were working at the highest level in a very abstract Weld, namely G.yH. Hardy (1877–1947) and Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887–1920) during their collaboration on pure mathematics between spring 1914 and spring 1919. Obviously the same problems would arise in trying to tell the personal story of Bertrand Russell’s supervision of Ludwig Wittgenstein in mathematical logic, which occurred at Cambridge University in the years just before the start of the Great War. It is a great challenge to try to tie personal dynamics and abstract thought into a single coherent narrative. There are implications for the philosophy of mathematics and the history and sociology of science. So, of course, we have to ask: how does author David Leavitt rise to this challenge? Second, a more personal reason: Paul Wheatley1 told me shortly before his death that he thought this period at Cambridge represented the highest accom- March 13, 2008 (7:35 pm) G:\WPData\TYPE2702\russell 27,2 054.wpd Reviews 273 2 G.yH. Hardy, Ramanujan: Twelve Lectures on Subjects Suggested by His Life and Work (Cambridge: Cambridge U. P., 1940). Two lectures were presented at Harvard in 1936; the Wrst, a more personal recollection, was printed unchanged. The quote is from p. 2. The second lecture was expanded into the remaining published lectures, all considering speciWc mathematical topics. plishment possible for an academic institution: its fellows and masters had managed to attract and then recognize the genius of Ramanujan and Wittgenstein and to admit them to advanced studies without any real academic credentials. Wheatley had been the chair of the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago; so, he knew something about such matters, as he did about many things involving humans, human settlements, and their arrangement in the world. Incidentally, Wheatley himself appeared as a character, Battle, in Ravenstein, Saul Bellow’s roman à clef about Allan Bloom. So, to the extent that Cambridge University just before and during the Great War plays a role here, we want to learn as much as we can about the atmosphere of the place. The Indian Clerk is a historical novelz—zin this case naming actual names, elaborating what we know about real people and occasionally adding Wctional charactersz—zall centered on the extraordinary mathematical genius Ramanujan and his equally extraordinary importation from India to Cambridge. The story is told largely in the third person, by an omniscient narrator, but repeatedly we also have the inner voice of G.yH. Hardy: there are a number of chapters with the indication “New Lecture Hall, Harvard University”, dated 1936, in which Hardy speaks in the Wrst person. In these passages David Leavitt uses parts of the published lectures, along with G.yH. Hardy’s private thoughtsz—zas imagined by Leavittz—zabout this “one romantic incident in my life” and about other matters that still haunt him.2 The novel is thus in some sense more about G.yH. Hardy and his inner life than it is about Srinivasa Ramanujan. The triumph of the novel is its ability to reconstruct and convey in a lively manner the circumstances of the time, the look and smell of the place, the crosscurrents, dynamics, and dislocations of people during these years. Leavitt has woven together a great deal, from many diTerent realms: pre-war meetings of the Apostles, the high table, the pre-war mathematics tripos, the method of collaboration between Hardy and J.yE. Littlewood, Cambridge as military training grounds and as hospital for the wounded, vegetarian cookery, feminism, Hindu... (shrink)

This paper is intended to discourse upon the state of the “blankness” in the first sentence of Spring and Autumn. Chinese traditional scholars tend to explain“blanks” as the “chueh wen/blanks of text” or the “pu shu/unwritten” on the basis of Commentaries. The former is a kind of “to be written” while the latter refers to the “blank”, which is “already written”, not “non-written”. “Blanks of text” is a term from The Analects of Confucius, coined first by Master Confucius (...) to refer to the relationship between court historians, writing and tradition, while “blank written” is a term in the Commentaries in reference to the relationship between thepractice of “meaning-given” and the “blank narrative” of “unwritten/blank written” in the text of Spring and Autumn. On account of the two terms, this study attempts to argue that the status of the “blanks” is explainable. (shrink)

Contrary to what might be expected given a religious or other motivation, Pierre Duhem's interest in mediaeval science was the result of his surprise encounter with Jordanus de Nemore while working on Les origines de la statique in the late autumn of 1903. Historical assumptions common among physicists at that time may explain this surprise, which occasioned a frantic search for more mediaeval precursors for Renaissance mechanics. It also raised serious historiographical problems that threatened even his methodological views, until (...) they were resolved in his To save the phenomena of 1908. (shrink)