Author: Anne D. Birdwhistell
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 080476574X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 335
Book Description
The Sung Neo-Confucian synthesis is one of the two great formative periods in the history of Confucianism. Shao Yung (1011-77) was a key contributor to this synthesis, and this study attempts to make understandable the complex and highly theoretical thought of a philosopher who has been, for the most part, misunderstood for a thousand years. It is the first full-length study in any language of Shao Yung's philosophy. Using an explicit metaphilosophical approach, the author examines the implicit and assumed aspects of Shao Yung's thought and shows how it makes sense to view his philosophy as an explanatory theory. Shao Yung explained all kinds of change and activity in the universe with six fundamental concepts that he applied to three realms of reality: subsensorial "matter," the phenomenal world of human experience, and the theoretical realm of symbols. The author also analyzes the place of the sage in Shao's philosophy. Not only would the sage restore political and moral unity in society, but through his special kind of knowing he also would restore cosmological unity. Shao's recognition that the perceiver had a critical role in making and shaping reality led to his ideal of the sage as the perfect knower. Utilizing Shao's own device of a moving observational viewpoint, the study concludes with an examination of the divergent interpretations of Shao's philosophy from the eleventh to the twentieth century. Because Shao took very seriously numerological aspects of Chinese thought that are often greatly misunderstood in the West (e.g., the I Ching), the study is also a very good introduction to the epistemological implications of an important strand of all traditional Chinese philosophical thought.
Transition to Neo-Confucianism
Author: Anne D. Birdwhistell
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 080476574X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 335
Book Description
The Sung Neo-Confucian synthesis is one of the two great formative periods in the history of Confucianism. Shao Yung (1011-77) was a key contributor to this synthesis, and this study attempts to make understandable the complex and highly theoretical thought of a philosopher who has been, for the most part, misunderstood for a thousand years. It is the first full-length study in any language of Shao Yung's philosophy. Using an explicit metaphilosophical approach, the author examines the implicit and assumed aspects of Shao Yung's thought and shows how it makes sense to view his philosophy as an explanatory theory. Shao Yung explained all kinds of change and activity in the universe with six fundamental concepts that he applied to three realms of reality: subsensorial "matter," the phenomenal world of human experience, and the theoretical realm of symbols. The author also analyzes the place of the sage in Shao's philosophy. Not only would the sage restore political and moral unity in society, but through his special kind of knowing he also would restore cosmological unity. Shao's recognition that the perceiver had a critical role in making and shaping reality led to his ideal of the sage as the perfect knower. Utilizing Shao's own device of a moving observational viewpoint, the study concludes with an examination of the divergent interpretations of Shao's philosophy from the eleventh to the twentieth century. Because Shao took very seriously numerological aspects of Chinese thought that are often greatly misunderstood in the West (e.g., the I Ching), the study is also a very good introduction to the epistemological implications of an important strand of all traditional Chinese philosophical thought.
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 080476574X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 335
Book Description
The Sung Neo-Confucian synthesis is one of the two great formative periods in the history of Confucianism. Shao Yung (1011-77) was a key contributor to this synthesis, and this study attempts to make understandable the complex and highly theoretical thought of a philosopher who has been, for the most part, misunderstood for a thousand years. It is the first full-length study in any language of Shao Yung's philosophy. Using an explicit metaphilosophical approach, the author examines the implicit and assumed aspects of Shao Yung's thought and shows how it makes sense to view his philosophy as an explanatory theory. Shao Yung explained all kinds of change and activity in the universe with six fundamental concepts that he applied to three realms of reality: subsensorial "matter," the phenomenal world of human experience, and the theoretical realm of symbols. The author also analyzes the place of the sage in Shao's philosophy. Not only would the sage restore political and moral unity in society, but through his special kind of knowing he also would restore cosmological unity. Shao's recognition that the perceiver had a critical role in making and shaping reality led to his ideal of the sage as the perfect knower. Utilizing Shao's own device of a moving observational viewpoint, the study concludes with an examination of the divergent interpretations of Shao's philosophy from the eleventh to the twentieth century. Because Shao took very seriously numerological aspects of Chinese thought that are often greatly misunderstood in the West (e.g., the I Ching), the study is also a very good introduction to the epistemological implications of an important strand of all traditional Chinese philosophical thought.
Neo-confucianism in History
Author: Peter Kees Bol
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 402
Book Description
Where does Neo-Confucianismâe"a movement that from the twelfth to the seventeenth centuries profoundly influenced the way people understood the world and responded to itâe"fit into our story of Chinaâe(tm)s history? This interpretive, at times polemical, inquiry into the Neo-Confucian engagement with the literati as the social and political elite, local society, and the imperial state during the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties is also a reflection on the role of the middle period in Chinaâe(tm)s history. The book argues that as Neo-Confucians put their philosophy of learning into practice in local society, they justified a new social ideal in which society at the local level was led by the literati with state recognition and support. The later imperial order, in which the state accepted local elite leadership as necessary to its own existence, survived even after Neo-Confucianism lost its hold on the center of intellectual culture in the seventeenth century but continued as the foundation of local education. It is the contention of this book that Neo-Confucianism made that order possible.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 402
Book Description
Where does Neo-Confucianismâe"a movement that from the twelfth to the seventeenth centuries profoundly influenced the way people understood the world and responded to itâe"fit into our story of Chinaâe(tm)s history? This interpretive, at times polemical, inquiry into the Neo-Confucian engagement with the literati as the social and political elite, local society, and the imperial state during the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties is also a reflection on the role of the middle period in Chinaâe(tm)s history. The book argues that as Neo-Confucians put their philosophy of learning into practice in local society, they justified a new social ideal in which society at the local level was led by the literati with state recognition and support. The later imperial order, in which the state accepted local elite leadership as necessary to its own existence, survived even after Neo-Confucianism lost its hold on the center of intellectual culture in the seventeenth century but continued as the foundation of local education. It is the contention of this book that Neo-Confucianism made that order possible.
Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy and the Learning of the Mind-and-Heart
Author: Wm. Theodore De Bary
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231052294
Category : China
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
A major addition to our understanding of the development of Neo-Confucianism--its complexity, diversity, richness, and depth as a major component of the moral and spiritual fiber of the peoples of East Asia.
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231052294
Category : China
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
A major addition to our understanding of the development of Neo-Confucianism--its complexity, diversity, richness, and depth as a major component of the moral and spiritual fiber of the peoples of East Asia.
‘This Culture of Ours’
Author: Peter K. Bol
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804765758
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 532
Book Description
This book traces the shared culture of the Chinese elite from the seventh to the twelfth centuries. The early T'ang definition of 'This Culture of Ours' combined literary and scholarly traditions from the previous five centuries. The late Sung Neo-Confucian movement challenged that definition. The author argues that the Tang-Sung transition is best understood as a transition from a literary view of culture - in which literary accomplishment and mastery of traditional forms were regarded as essential - to the ethical orientation of Neo-Confucianism, in which the cultivation of one's innate moral ability was regarded as the goal of learning. The author shows that this transformation paralleled the collapse of the T'ang order and the restoration of a centralized empire under the Sung, underscoring the connection between elite formation and political institutions.
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804765758
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 532
Book Description
This book traces the shared culture of the Chinese elite from the seventh to the twelfth centuries. The early T'ang definition of 'This Culture of Ours' combined literary and scholarly traditions from the previous five centuries. The late Sung Neo-Confucian movement challenged that definition. The author argues that the Tang-Sung transition is best understood as a transition from a literary view of culture - in which literary accomplishment and mastery of traditional forms were regarded as essential - to the ethical orientation of Neo-Confucianism, in which the cultivation of one's innate moral ability was regarded as the goal of learning. The author shows that this transformation paralleled the collapse of the T'ang order and the restoration of a centralized empire under the Sung, underscoring the connection between elite formation and political institutions.
The Dynamics of Confucianism and Modernization in Korean History
Author: Tʻae-jin Yi
Publisher: Cornell East Asia Series
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 426
Book Description
This volume makes available for the first time in English a collection of the work of historian Yi Tae-Jin. Over the course of his career, he has done path-breaking research that covers virtually the entire Chosōn period (1392-1910) from the Koryō-Chosōn transition to the Kojong period and Korea's takeover by Japan in 1910. One of the focal points of his scholarship has been to reinterpret Neo-Confucianism as a dynamic force in Korean history. The first half of this volume is devoted to his seminal work on the historical factors behind the founding of the Chosōn dynasty. He has shown how the rise of Neo-Confucianism during the Koryō-Chosōn transition was tied to unprecedented advances in agriculture and medicine that led to a fundamental socio-economic transformation of Korea. A new social class emerged that became a leading force behind the new dynasty and adopted Neo-Confucianism as its ideology. One of the underlying concerns of his scholarship has been to overcome the legacy of Japanese colonial scholarship on Korean historiography. His work refutes the notion of Korea as a "Hermit Kingdom" that was stagnant for centuries before its opening to the West. The second half of the volume includes some of his work on modernization efforts in the late Chosōn period, as well as some of his more direct critiques of the continuing influence of Japanese historiography in Korea.
Publisher: Cornell East Asia Series
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 426
Book Description
This volume makes available for the first time in English a collection of the work of historian Yi Tae-Jin. Over the course of his career, he has done path-breaking research that covers virtually the entire Chosōn period (1392-1910) from the Koryō-Chosōn transition to the Kojong period and Korea's takeover by Japan in 1910. One of the focal points of his scholarship has been to reinterpret Neo-Confucianism as a dynamic force in Korean history. The first half of this volume is devoted to his seminal work on the historical factors behind the founding of the Chosōn dynasty. He has shown how the rise of Neo-Confucianism during the Koryō-Chosōn transition was tied to unprecedented advances in agriculture and medicine that led to a fundamental socio-economic transformation of Korea. A new social class emerged that became a leading force behind the new dynasty and adopted Neo-Confucianism as its ideology. One of the underlying concerns of his scholarship has been to overcome the legacy of Japanese colonial scholarship on Korean historiography. His work refutes the notion of Korea as a "Hermit Kingdom" that was stagnant for centuries before its opening to the West. The second half of the volume includes some of his work on modernization efforts in the late Chosōn period, as well as some of his more direct critiques of the continuing influence of Japanese historiography in Korea.
The Song-Yuan-Ming Transition in Chinese History
Author: Paul Jakov Smith
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 1684173817
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 549
Book Description
This volume seeks to study the connections between two well-studied epochs in Chinese history: the mid-imperial era of the Tang and Song (ca. 800-1270) and the late imperial era of the late Ming and Qing (1550-1900). Both eras are seen as periods of explosive change, particularly in economic activity, characterized by the emergence of new forms of social organization and a dramatic expansion in knowledge and culture. The task of establishing links between these two periods has been impeded by a lack of knowledge of the intervening Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). This historiographical "black hole" has artificially interrupted the narrative of Chinese history and bifurcated it into two distinct epochs. This book aims to restore continuity to that historical narrative by filling the gap between mid-imperial and late imperial China. The contributors argue that the Song-Yuan-Ming transition (early twelfth through the late fifteenth century) constitutes a distinct historical period of transition and not one of interruption and devolution. They trace this transition by investigating such subjects as contemporary impressions of the period, the role of the Mongols in intellectual life, the economy of Jiangnan, urban growth, neo-Confucianism and local society, commercial publishing, comic drama, and medical learning.
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 1684173817
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 549
Book Description
This volume seeks to study the connections between two well-studied epochs in Chinese history: the mid-imperial era of the Tang and Song (ca. 800-1270) and the late imperial era of the late Ming and Qing (1550-1900). Both eras are seen as periods of explosive change, particularly in economic activity, characterized by the emergence of new forms of social organization and a dramatic expansion in knowledge and culture. The task of establishing links between these two periods has been impeded by a lack of knowledge of the intervening Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). This historiographical "black hole" has artificially interrupted the narrative of Chinese history and bifurcated it into two distinct epochs. This book aims to restore continuity to that historical narrative by filling the gap between mid-imperial and late imperial China. The contributors argue that the Song-Yuan-Ming transition (early twelfth through the late fifteenth century) constitutes a distinct historical period of transition and not one of interruption and devolution. They trace this transition by investigating such subjects as contemporary impressions of the period, the role of the Mongols in intellectual life, the economy of Jiangnan, urban growth, neo-Confucianism and local society, commercial publishing, comic drama, and medical learning.
Limits to Autocracy
Author: Alan T. Wood
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824817039
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306
Book Description
Alan T. Wood examines the cultural identity of modern China in the context of authoritarianism in the Chinese political tradition. Taking on issues of key importance in the understanding of Chinese history, Wood leads readers to a reconsideration of neo-Confucian thinkers of the Northern Sung dynasty. Modern scholars have accused Sung neo-Confucians of advocating a doctrine of unconditional obedience to the ruler--of "revering the emperor and expelling the barbarian"--and thereby inhibiting the rise of democracy in China. Wood refutes this dominant view by arguing that Sung neo-Confucians intended to limit the power of the emperor, not enhance it. Sung political thinkers believed passionately in the existence of a moral cosmos governed by universal laws that transcended the ruler and could be invoked to set limits on his power. Wood makes a striking comparison of this view with a similar one of universal morality or natural law that developed in late Medieval Europe. By drawing attention to a much-neglected Confucian text, he contributes significantly to the wider dialog of human rights in China and brings forth fresh philosophical insights in his comparative view of Chinese and Western history.
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824817039
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306
Book Description
Alan T. Wood examines the cultural identity of modern China in the context of authoritarianism in the Chinese political tradition. Taking on issues of key importance in the understanding of Chinese history, Wood leads readers to a reconsideration of neo-Confucian thinkers of the Northern Sung dynasty. Modern scholars have accused Sung neo-Confucians of advocating a doctrine of unconditional obedience to the ruler--of "revering the emperor and expelling the barbarian"--and thereby inhibiting the rise of democracy in China. Wood refutes this dominant view by arguing that Sung neo-Confucians intended to limit the power of the emperor, not enhance it. Sung political thinkers believed passionately in the existence of a moral cosmos governed by universal laws that transcended the ruler and could be invoked to set limits on his power. Wood makes a striking comparison of this view with a similar one of universal morality or natural law that developed in late Medieval Europe. By drawing attention to a much-neglected Confucian text, he contributes significantly to the wider dialog of human rights in China and brings forth fresh philosophical insights in his comparative view of Chinese and Western history.
Sagehood
Author: Stephen C. Angle
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195385144
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 310
Book Description
Angle's book is both an exposition of Neo-Confucian philosophy and a sustained dialogue with many leading Western thinkers, especially with those philosophers leading the current renewal of interest in virtue ethics. He argues for a new stage in the development of contemporary Confucian philosophy.
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195385144
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 310
Book Description
Angle's book is both an exposition of Neo-Confucian philosophy and a sustained dialogue with many leading Western thinkers, especially with those philosophers leading the current renewal of interest in virtue ethics. He argues for a new stage in the development of contemporary Confucian philosophy.
Neo-Confucianism and Science in Korea
Author: Sang-ho Ro
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000343154
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 235
Book Description
Historians of late premodern Korea have tended to regard it as a hermit kingdom, isolated from its neighbours and the wider world. In fact, as Ro argues in this book, Korean intellectuals were heavily influenced by both Chinese Neo-Confucianism and the European Enlightenment in the late 18th and 19th centuries. In the late Choson period the regime felt threatened by the new, more empirical, approaches to knowledge emerging from both the East and the West. For this reason many Korean intellectuals felt it necessary to work in the shadows and formed secret societies for the study of nature. Because of the secrecy of these societies, much of their work has remained unknown even in Korea until recent years. Ho looks at the work of these intellectuals and analyses the impact their thinking and experimentation had on knowledge production in Korea. A fascinating insight into the largely overlooked story of how globalization affected intellectual life in Korea before the 20th century. This book will be of great interest to students and researchers of Korean history and of Asian intellectual history more broadly.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000343154
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 235
Book Description
Historians of late premodern Korea have tended to regard it as a hermit kingdom, isolated from its neighbours and the wider world. In fact, as Ro argues in this book, Korean intellectuals were heavily influenced by both Chinese Neo-Confucianism and the European Enlightenment in the late 18th and 19th centuries. In the late Choson period the regime felt threatened by the new, more empirical, approaches to knowledge emerging from both the East and the West. For this reason many Korean intellectuals felt it necessary to work in the shadows and formed secret societies for the study of nature. Because of the secrecy of these societies, much of their work has remained unknown even in Korea until recent years. Ho looks at the work of these intellectuals and analyses the impact their thinking and experimentation had on knowledge production in Korea. A fascinating insight into the largely overlooked story of how globalization affected intellectual life in Korea before the 20th century. This book will be of great interest to students and researchers of Korean history and of Asian intellectual history more broadly.
The Way of the Barbarians
Author: Shao-yun Yang
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295746017
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 243
Book Description
Shao-yun Yang challenges assumptions that the cultural and socioeconomic watershed of the Tang-Song transition (800–1127 CE) was marked by a xenophobic or nationalist hardening of ethnocultural boundaries in response to growing foreign threats. In that period, reinterpretations of Chineseness and its supposed antithesis, “barbarism,” were not straightforward products of political change but had their own developmental logic based in two interrelated intellectual shifts among the literati elite: the emergence of Confucian ideological and intellectual orthodoxy and the rise of neo-Confucian (daoxue) philosophy. New discourses emphasized the fluidity of the Chinese-barbarian dichotomy, subverting the centrality of cultural or ritual practices to Chinese identity and redefining the essence of Chinese civilization and its purported superiority. The key issues at stake concerned the acceptability of intellectual pluralism in a Chinese society and the importance of Confucian moral values to the integrity and continuity of the Chinese state. Through close reading of the contexts and changing geopolitical realities in which new interpretations of identity emerged, this intellectual history engages with ongoing debates over relevance of the concepts of culture, nation, and ethnicity to premodern China.
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295746017
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 243
Book Description
Shao-yun Yang challenges assumptions that the cultural and socioeconomic watershed of the Tang-Song transition (800–1127 CE) was marked by a xenophobic or nationalist hardening of ethnocultural boundaries in response to growing foreign threats. In that period, reinterpretations of Chineseness and its supposed antithesis, “barbarism,” were not straightforward products of political change but had their own developmental logic based in two interrelated intellectual shifts among the literati elite: the emergence of Confucian ideological and intellectual orthodoxy and the rise of neo-Confucian (daoxue) philosophy. New discourses emphasized the fluidity of the Chinese-barbarian dichotomy, subverting the centrality of cultural or ritual practices to Chinese identity and redefining the essence of Chinese civilization and its purported superiority. The key issues at stake concerned the acceptability of intellectual pluralism in a Chinese society and the importance of Confucian moral values to the integrity and continuity of the Chinese state. Through close reading of the contexts and changing geopolitical realities in which new interpretations of identity emerged, this intellectual history engages with ongoing debates over relevance of the concepts of culture, nation, and ethnicity to premodern China.