Competing Perspectives on

1
Competing Perspectives on The Way

• Stephen C. Angle, Wesleyan University

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Overview

• Part One
• Chronology of Chinese Philosophy
• Archeology, Translation, and Interpretation
• One Hundred Schools?
• The Warring States Era
• Part Two Confucius and the Analects
• Part Three Daoism and the Dao De Jing

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Periods of Chinese Philosophy

• Pre-Classical
• Classical
• Imperial (Han ? Tang)
• Scholastic / Daoist Religions / Rise of Buddhism
• Later Imperial (Song ? Qing)
• Neo-Confucian Revival
• Post-Imperial
• Republic / PRC / Today

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Archeology, Translation, and Interpretation

• Lattimore and/vs. Fitzgerald
• Philosophy as one perspective among others
• Archeology and the materiality of sources
• Translation, Romanization / Transliteration, and
  Interpretation
• Jen, Ren, Rvn, and ?

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One Hundred Schools?

• What is a school?
• Dialogue
• Confucianism
• Daoism
• Statecraft, Legalism, and Fajia

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Contextualizing the Warring States

• Zhou Dynasty (11th c. BCE)
• Spring Autumn Era (771 BCE)
• Warring States (c. 479 BCE)
• Iron
• Population
• Taxes
• Bureaucracy
• Mass armies
• Qin Victory (221 BCE)

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Confucius and the Analects

• Confucius (551-479 BCE)
• Core ideas in Book Four (esp. 43, 45, 410,
  416)
• Ren/Rvn (authoritative, benevolence, humaneness)
• Yi (appropriate, right, righteousness)
• Junzi (Exemplary Person, Gentleman)
• Xiaoren (Little or Petty Person), and Li (Profit,
  Advantage)

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Analects 43

• AR The Master said, The authoritative person
  alone has the wherewithal to properly
  discriminate the good person from the bad.
• BB The Master said, It is only the rvn who can
  like others who can hate others.

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Confucius and Ritual

• Rituals large and small
• Ritual (Li) and Ren?
• See Analects 33 and 34
• Importance of Ritual
• Contrast Analects 317 and 318
• Wedding example

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Confucianism vs. Statecraft

• Analects 23 (BB)
• The Master said, Lead them with government and
  regulate them by punishments, and the people will
  evade them with no sense of shame. Lead them with
  virtue and regulate them by ritual, and they will
  acquire a sense of shame and moreover, they will
  be orderly.

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Introduction to Daoism (or Taoism)

• Dao De Jing (4th c. BCE)
• Zhuangzi (3rd c. BCE)
• Legends
• The term dao
• Text(s) of the Dao De Jing
• Received
• Mawangdui silk manuscripts
• Guodian bamboo

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One Starting Point Dao De Jing 41

• A way to act
• When the highest type of men hear the Way, with
  diligence theyre able to practice it
• A negative way
• The Way that goes forward appears to retreat
• A nameless way
• The Way is great but it has no name.

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Rulership and NaturalnessDao De Jing 17 - 19

• With the highest kind of rulers, those below
  them simply know they exist. / With those one
  step downthey love and praise them. (17)
• When the Great Way is rejected, it is then that
  we have the virtues of humanity (ren) and
  righteousness (yi). (18)
• Manifest plainness and embrace the genuine /
  Lessen self-interest and make few your desires /
  Eliminate learning and have no undue concern.
  (19)

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Belly Rather Than EyesDao De Jing 12

• The five colors cause ones eyes to go blind. /
  Racing horses and hunting cause ones mind to go
  mad.
• Therefore, in the government of the sage, / Hes
  for the belly and not for the eyes.

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Summing It All UpDao De Jing 1 and 25

• The Way that cannot be spoken of is not the
  constant Way / the name that can be named is not
  the constant name. (1)
• I do not know its name / I style it the Way.
  / Were I forced to give it a name, I would call
  it the Great. (25)
• Man models himself on the earth / The earth
  models itself on Heaven / Heaven models itself
  on the Way / And the Way models itself on that
  which is so on its own (ziran). (25)