Zhong and Zhongyong in Confucian Classics

Zhong and Zhongyong in Confucian Classics
Author: Chunqing Li
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 80
Release: 2020-09-17
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9811556407

This Key Concept pivot explores the trajectory of the semantic generation and evolution of two core concepts of ancient Chinese Confucianism, ‘Zhong’ (middle) and ‘Zhongyong’ (golden mean). In the pre-Qin period, Confucius advocated ‘middle line’ and ‘golden mean’ as the highest standards for gentlemanly behaviour and culture. In The Doctrine of the Mean the Confucian classic of the late Warring States Period, ‘middle’ obtained the ontological meaning of ‘great fundamental virtues of the world’, due to the influence of Taoism and Yinyang School. It became not only the norm of human behaviours, but also the law governing the operation of heaven and earth. Since then, idealist Confucian scholars of the Song and Ming dynasties have developed the meaning of ‘middle’ from the perspective of the relationships between heaven and man, a fundamental norm of Confucian ethics.

Daxue and Zhongyong (A Bilingual Edition)

Daxue and Zhongyong (A Bilingual Edition)
Author:
Publisher: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press
Total Pages: 564
Release: 2012-12-15
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 9629964457

For the past eight hundred years, the study of Confucian doctrine has been largely dominated by the crucial works known as the "Four Books": the Analects, the Mencius, the Daxue, and the Zhongyong. In their original forms, the Daxue and Zhongyong were two of the more than forty chapters of the larger Li ji (Book of Rites), only gaining prominence thanks to the Song Neo-Confucian scholar Zhu Xi. In this groundbreaking text, Ian Johnston and Wang Ping have translated both of these versions of the Daxue and Zhongyong, one version as chapters of the Li ji that contain the influential commentary and notes of Zheng Xuan and Kong Yingda, and the second after they were reorganized into standalone works and reinterpreted by Zhu Xi. Johnston and Wang also include extensive explanatory and supplemental materials to help contextualize and familiarize readers with these supremely influential works.

The Ways of Confucianism

The Ways of Confucianism
Author: David S. Nivison
Publisher: Open Court Publishing
Total Pages: 360
Release: 1996
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780812693409

"Nivison brings out the exciting variety within Confucian thought, as he interprets and elucidates key thinkers from over two thousand years, from Confucius himself, through Mencius and Xunzi, to such later Confucians as Wang Yangming, Dai Zhen, and Zhang Xuecheng."--Cover.

Dao Companion to Classical Confucian Philosophy

Dao Companion to Classical Confucian Philosophy
Author: Vincent Shen
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2013-10-23
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9048129362

This volume presents both a historical and a systematic examination of the philosophy of classical Confucianism. Taking into account newly unearthed materials and the most recent scholarship, it features contributions by experts in the field, ranging from senior scholars to outstanding early career scholars. The book first presents the historical development of classical Confucianism, detailing its development amidst a fading ancient political theology and a rising wave of creative humanism. It examines the development of the philosophical ideas of Confucius as well as his disciples and his grandson Zisi, the Zisi-Mencius School, Mencius, and Xunzi. Together with this historical development, the book analyzes and critically assesses the philosophy in the Confucian Classics and other major works of these philosophers. The second part systematically examines such philosophical issues as feeling and emotion, the aesthetic appreciation of music, wisdom in poetry, moral psychology, virtue ethics, political thoughts, the relation with the Ultimate Reality, and the concept of harmony in Confucianism. The Philosophy of Classical Confucianism offers an unparalleled examination to the philosophers, basic texts and philosophical concepts and ideas of Classical Confucianism as well as the recently unearthed bamboo slips related to Classical Confucianism. It will prove itself a valuable reference to undergraduate and postgraduate university students and teachers in philosophy, Chinese history, History, Chinese language and Culture.

The Five "Confucian" Classics

The Five
Author: Michael Nylan
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2008-10-01
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 0300130333

The Five Classics associated with Confucius formed the core curriculum in the education of Chinese literati throughout most of the imperial period. In this book Michael Nylan offers a sweeping assessment of these ancient texts and shows how their influence spread across East Asia. Nylan begins by tracing the formation of the Five Classics canon in the pre-Han and Han periods, 206 B.C.–A.D. 220, revising standard views on the topic. She assesses the impact on this canon of the invention of a rival corpus, the Four Books, in the twelfth century. She then analyzes each of the Five Classics, discussing when they were written, how they were transmitted and edited in later periods, and what political, historical, and ethical themes were associated with them through the ages. Finally she deliberates on the intertwined fates of Confucius and the Five Classics over the course of the twentieth century and shows how the contents of the Five Classics are relevant to much newer concerns.

Li Zehou and Confucian Philosophy

Li Zehou and Confucian Philosophy
Author: Roger T. Ames
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 411
Release: 2018-07-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0824876105

For more than a century scholars both inside and outside of China have undertaken the project of modernizing Confucianism, but few have been as successful or influential as Li Zehou (b. 1930). Since the 1950s, Li’s extensive efforts in this regard have in turn exerted a profound influence on Chinese modernization and resulted in his becoming one of China’s most prominent social critics. To transform Confucianism into a contemporary resource for positive change in China and elsewhere, Li has reinterpreted major ideas and concepts of classical Confucianism, including a rereading of the entire Analects, replete with his own philosophical speculations derived from other Chinese and Western traditions (most notably, the ideas of Kant and Marx), and developed an aesthetical theory that has proved especially far-reaching. Although the authors of this volume hail from East Asia, North America, and Europe and a wide variety of academic backgrounds and fields of study, they are unanimous in their appreciation of Li’s contributions to not only an evolving Confucian philosophy, but also world philosophy. They view Li first and foremost as a sui generis thinker with broad global interests and not one who fits neatly into any one philosophical category, Chinese or Western. This is clearly reflected in the chapters included here, which are organized into three parts: Li Zehou and the Modernization of Confucianism, Li Zehou’s Reconception of Confucian Philosophy, and Li Zehou’s Aesthetical Theory and Confucianism. Together they form a coherent narrative that reveals how Li has, for more than half a century, creatively studied, absorbed, and reconceptualized the Confucian ideational tradition to integrate it with Western philosophical elements and develop his own philosophical insights and original theories. At the same time, he has transformed and modernized Confucianism for the purpose of both coalescing with and reconstructing a new world cultural order.

Chinese Metaphysics and its Problems

Chinese Metaphysics and its Problems
Author: Chenyang Li
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 253
Release: 2015-04-30
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1107093503

The first English-language contributory volume on Chinese metaphysics, covering all major traditions from pre-Qin to the modern period.

A Relational Theory of World Politics

A Relational Theory of World Politics
Author: Yaqing Qin
Publisher:
Total Pages: 415
Release: 2018-04-05
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1107183146

A reinterpretation of world politics drawing on Chinese cultural and philosophical traditions to argue for a focus on relations amongst actors, rather than on the actors individually.

Translating Chinese Classics in a Colonial Context

Translating Chinese Classics in a Colonial Context
Author: Hui Wang
Publisher: Peter Lang
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2008
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 9783039116317

This work subjects James Legge's Confucian translations to a postcolonial perspective, with a view of uncovering the subtle workings of colonialist ideology in the seemingly innocent act of translation. The author uses the example of Legge's two versions of the 'Zhonguong' to illustrate two distinctive stages of his sinological scholarship.

The Columbia History of Chinese Literature

The Columbia History of Chinese Literature
Author: Victor H. Mair
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 1369
Release: 2010-03-10
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0231528515

The Columbia History of Chinese Literature is a comprehensive yet portable guide to China's vast literary traditions. Stretching from earliest times to the present, the text features original contributions by leading specialists working in all genres and periods. Chapters cover poetry, prose, fiction, and drama, and consider such contextual subjects as popular culture, the impact of religion, the role of women, and China's relationship with non-Sinitic languages and peoples. Opening with a major section on the linguistic and intellectual foundations of Chinese literature, the anthology traces the development of forms and movements over time, along with critical trends, and pays particular attention to the premodern canon.