Hui Shi (370-310B.C.E.?) is a unique one among the pre-Qin scholars. The object and orientation of his scholarship emphasized on “chasing after the materials” or the research for objective knowledge of natural things. He shows a tendency of tolerating and advocating diversity and variety, and intentionally pursuing new and unusual ideas. In certain degree he judges the value of knowledge by its truthfulness rather than its usefulness. As pointed out by Wing-tsit Chan, Hui shi represents a “tendency in ancient (...) China toward intellectualism for its own sake”. (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. (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)

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)

Abu Nasr Muhammad Alfarabi, the medieval Muslim philosopher and the founder of Islamic Neoplatonism, is best known for his political treatise, Mabadi ara ahl al-madina al- fadhila (Principles of the Opinions of the Inhabitants of the Virtuous City), in which he proposes a theory of utopian virtuous city. Prominent scholars argue for the Platonic nature of Alfarabi’s political philosophy and relate the political treatise to Plato’s Republic. One of the most striking similarities between Alfarabi’s Mabadi ara ahl al-madina al- (...) fadhila and Plato’s Republic is that in both works the theory of virtuous city is accompanied by a theory of soul. It is true that Alfarabi’s theory of soul differ considerably from that of Plato’s Republic. However, we propose that notwithstanding the differences, the two theories of soul do play an identically important role in the respective theory of virtuous city. The present article explores the relationship between the soul and the city in Plato’s Republic and Alfarabi’s Mabadi ara ahl al-madina al- fadhila, and intends to show that in both works the coexistence of the theory of soul and the city is neither coincidental nor a casual concurrence of two themes. Rather, the concept of soul serves as a foundation on which Plato and Alfarabi erect their respective theory of perfect association. Thus, Alfarabi’s treatise resembles Plato’s Republic not only in the coexistence of the theory of soul and the city, but also in the important role of the concept of soul in the theory of virtuous city. (shrink)

There is a tendency among scholars to identify Alfarabi’s political philosophy in general and his theory of the state in particular with that of Plato’s The Republic. Undoubtedly Alfarabi was well versed in the philosophy of Plato and was greatly influenced by it. He borrows the Platonic concept of the philosopher king and uses it in his theory of the state. However, we argue that the identification of Alfarabi’s virtuous city with that of Plato’s The Republic is an inaccurate (...) assessment as it involves overlooking Alfarabi’s unique religiopolitical context. Alfarabi was a Muslim political philosopher, and the present article intends to understand Alfarabi’s theory of the state in light of his historical context. The article shows that, viewed through the prism of Islamic religion and political history, Alfarabi’s virtuous city seems distinct from that of Plato’s The Republic. (shrink)

In his political treatise, Mabadi ara ahl al-madina al-fadhila, Abu Nasr Alfarabi, the medieval Muslim philosopher, proposes a theory of virtuous city which, according to prominent scholars, is modeled on Plato’s utopia of the Republic. No doubt that Alfarabi was well-versed in the philosophy of Plato and the basic framework of his theory of city is platonic. However, his theory of city is not an exact reproduction of the Republic’s theory and, despite glaring similarities, the two theories do differ (...) in many aspects. In both, Alfarabi’s Mabadi ara ahl al-madina al-fadhila and Plato’s Republic, the theory of virtuous city is accompanied by a theory of the soul. Since the theory of soul plays a foundational role in both theories of the virtuous city, the present article intends to provide an explanation for the differences between the two theories of the city in terms of the differences between the two theories of the soul. (shrink)

The youngest generation of students prefers a more active learning style. Sandwich teaching may suit their learning style by alternating between active individual learning and passive collective learning. Sandwich teaching has been rarely applied to the Community Nursing Course for nursing students, and its teaching effects on this course remain unclear. This study applied Sandwich teaching to the Community Nursing Course for Chinese nursing undergraduates and investigated its effects on students' critical thinking, self-learning ability, course experience, and academic performance. This (...) is a quasi-experimental study with 72 Chinese nursing undergraduates. Students receiving traditional teaching were enrolled in the control group, and those who received Sandwich teaching were recruited into the experimental group. Both groups received the 12-week, 90-min Community Nursing Course. Our main outcome variable, including students' critical thinking, self-learning ability, and course experience, was assessed by specific questionnaire. The paired t-tests were applied to compare the differences of the same group in the pre-test and the post-test, and the independent-sample t-tests were used to compare the differences between the two groups. We observed that nursing students' critical thinking ability and self-learning ability were significantly improved after receiving Sandwich teaching. Students' course experience of Sandwich teaching was significantly better than that of traditional teaching. The final exam score in the experimental group was not significantly higher than that in the control group. These results suggest that Sandwich teaching in Community Nursing Course improved Chinese nursing undergraduates' critical thinking, self-learning ability, and course experience, but failed in improving academic performance. (shrink)

Little is known about the Korean Peninsula before 12 th century, due to which potentially biased assessments of its social, cultural, and political history exist. This study attempted to unearth the history of the Korean Peninsula since the late 10th century through the Buddhist inscriptions. These inscriptions unveil the authentic social environment, religious beliefs, and political ecology of late Silla and delve into the political motives and life philosophies of Silla scholars who studied the Tang Dynasty, especially their approach (...) of 'interpreting Buddhism through Confucianism'. Based on empirical research grounded in documentary evidence, combined with literary-historical methods, this study examined the inscriptions of two great Silla scholars Choi Chi-Won and Choi Eun-Wee. Their works predominantly feature Confucian thought within Buddhist narratives. Politically, they used Confucian principles as the foundation for governance, interpreting them through Buddhist concepts to enlighten the masses and strengthen dynastic rule. Ideologically, while Choi Chi-Won fully implemented Confucian logic, Choi Eun-Wee demonstrated a stronger Buddhist inclination. This research enriches the understanding of the history, culture, and society of the Korean Peninsula, highlighting the significant role of blending Confucian and Buddhist elements in shaping its social and political structures. (shrink)

Because of difficulty processing the electronic medical record data of patients with cerebrovascular disease, there is little mature recognition technology capable of identifying the named entity of cerebrovascular disease. Excellent research results have been achieved in the field of named entity recognition, but there are several problems in the pre processing of Chinese named entities that have multiple meanings, of which neglecting the combination of contextual information is one. Therefore, to extract five categories of key entity information for diseases, symptoms, (...) body parts, medical examinations, and treatment in electronic medical records, this paper proposes the use of a BERT-BiGRU-CRF named entity recognition method, which is applied to the field of cerebrovascular diseases. The BERT layer first converts the electronic medical record text into a low-dimensional vector, then uses this vector as the input to the BiGRU layer to capture contextual features, and finally uses conditional random fields to capture the dependency between adjacent tags. The experimental results show that the F1 score of the model reaches 90.38%. (shrink)

Spontaneous activity levels prior to stimulus presentation can determine how that stimulus will be perceived. It has also been proposed that such spontaneous activity, particularly in the default-mode network (DMN), is involved in self-related processing. We therefore hypothesised that pre-stimulus activity levels in the DMN predict whether a stimulus is judged as self-related or not. Method: Participants were presented in the MRI scanner with a white noise stimulus that they were instructed contained their name or another. They then had to (...) respond with which name they thought they heard. Regions where there was an activity level difference between self and other response trials two seconds prior to the stimulus being presented were identified. Results: Pre-stimulus activity levels were higher in the right temporoparietal junction (RTPJ), the right temporal pole (RTP), and the left superior temporal gyrus in trials where the participant responded that they heard their own name than trials where they responded that they heard another. Conclusion: Pre-stimulus spontaneous activity levels in particular brain regions, largely overlapping with the DMN, predict the subsequent judgement of stimuli as self-related. This extends our current knowledge of self-related processing and its apparent relationship with intrinsic brain activity in what can be termed a rest-self overlap. (shrink)

The use of AI in weapons systems raises numerous ethical issues. To date, work on weaponized AI has tended to be theoretical and normative in nature, consisting in critical policy analyses and ethical considerations, carried out by philosophers, legal scholars, and political scientists. However, adequately addressing the cultural and social dimensions of technology requires insights and methods from empirical moral and cultural psychology. To do so, this position piece describes the motivations for and sketches the nature of a normative, (...) cultural psychology of weaponized AI. The motivations for this project include the increasingly global, cross-cultural and international, nature of technologies, and counter-intuitive nature of normative thoughts and behaviors. The nature of this project consists in developing standardized measures of AI ethical reasoning and intuitions, coupled with questions exploring the development of norms, administered and validated across different cultural groups and disciplinary contexts. The goal of this piece is not to provide a comprehensive framework for understanding the cultural facets and psychological dimensions of weaponized AI but, rather, to outline in broad terms the contours of an emerging research agenda. (shrink)

Some engineering educators recognize the necessity and challenges of teaching students moral sensitivity. As recently pointed out by some scholars, along with moral sensitivity, promoting “self-knowledge” is significantly lacking in engineering curricula. We suggest that the “ethics autobiography” employed in some health and psychological science programs can serve as a useful tool for helping engineering students develop moral sensitivity and self-reflective competencies. First, this paper briefly discusses some unique potential strengths of introducing ethics autobiography as a tool for moral (...) pedagogy to engineering education. Second, this paper provides five specific examples on how to implement ethics autobiography in the classroom. Among the five examples, two are directly related to engineering education and the other three can easily be adapted to meet the needs of engineering education. Finally, this paper concludes with some discussion of the implications of ethics autobiography for engineering ethics education reform and the limitations and ethical considerations of using autobiography in moral pedagogy. (shrink)

The idea of technocracy has been widely criticized in Western literature in the philosophy and sociology of technology. A common critique of technocracy is that it represents an “antidemocratic” and “dehumanizing” ideology. This paper invites Western scholars to reconsider their oppositions to technocracy by drawing on resources from Confucian ethics. In doing so, this paper synthesizes the major ethical challenges of technocracy mainly concerned by Western scholars in philosophy, political theories, sociology, and policy studies. This paper argues that (...) incorporating Confucian resources such as the rule of virtue into technocracy may be helpful for reexamining these ethical challenges to technocracy that are deeply rooted in Western liberal democratic ideologies. The Confucian rule of virtue means that social policies should be made by the virtuous and capable and these policies need to have impacts on the moral progress of the society. Confucian values provide ethical guidance for technocrats in assessing the moral quality of the sociotechnical systems they build. From the Confucian perspective, sociotechnical systems are often assessed based on the criterion whether and how these sociotechnical systems contribute to a process of harmonization. This paper will introduce some practical cases that demonstrate how technical experts and expertise contribute to organizational and social management. In these cases, virtues and the rule of virtue do play a crucial role: virtues either determine the selection of technocrats and the legitimization of their political power or are embedded in engineering design and affect human behavior in the use context. (shrink)

This wide-ranging collection of original essays explores how individual and societal beliefs, values, and actions are transformed by science, technology, and engineering. Practical and theoretical insights from a global cohort of philosophers, policymakers, STS scholars, and engineers illuminate the perils and promise of technoscientific change.

What is the je-ne-sais-quoi? How - if at all - can it be put into words? In addressing these questions, Richard Scholar offers the first full-length study of the je-ne-sais-quoi and its fortunes in early modern Europe. He describes the rise and fall of the expression as a noun and as a topic of debate, examines its cluster of meanings, and uncovers the scattered traces of its 'pre-history'. The je-ne-sais-quoi is often assumed to belong purely to the realm of the (...) literary, but in the early modern period it serves to articulate problems of knowledge in natural philosophy, the passions, and culture, and for that reason it is approached here from an interdisciplinary perspective. Placing major figures of the period such as Montaigne, Shakespeare, Descartes, Corneille, and Pascal alongside some of their lesser-known contemporaries, Scholar argues that the je-ne-sais-quoi serves above all to capture first-person encounters with a 'certain something' that is as difficult to explain as its effects are intense. When early modern writers use the expression in this way, he suggests, they give literary form to an experience that twenty-first-century readers may recognize as something like their own. (shrink)

The experience of family harmony, as an individual's subjective evaluation of harmonious family relations, has an important influence on the development of their physical and mental health. This study aimed to develop the College Students' Experience of Family Harmony Questionnaire that is fit for college students in China. On the basis of literature analysis and survey with questionnaires, five pairs of opposite assessment indexes were constructed in this paper, namely, Atmosphere of family, Responsibility to housework, Time-sharing, Seeking help, and Supporting (...) family members. Items of this questionnaire were collected from investigation, relevant scales, and discussion with experts. Here, 562 college students were selected for the pre-test and 696 for the formal test. The results showed that, except for the dimension of refusing housework, which has been deleted, other dimensions remain unchanged, and the final nine dimensions accounted for 66.03% of variance variation. Furthermore, the result of confirmatory factor analysis indicates that the model fit well with the data in construct validity [χ2/df = 2.71, Incremental Fit Index = 0.90, Tucker–Lewis Index = 0.89, Comparative Fit Index = 0.90, root mean square error of approximation = 0.05, standardized root mean square residual = 0.05]. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of this questionnaire was 0.97. The split-half reliability was 0.92, and the test–retest reliability was 0.75 for the total questionnaire. The total score of the questionnaire was significantly positively correlated with the total score of family function, family cohesion, family adaptability, and well-being, and it had a significant negative correlation with loneliness. The results showed that the final structure was reasonable, and reliability and validity conformed to the requirements of psychometrics. Therefore, the questionnaire developed in this study can be used as a valid instrument for assessing the experience of family harmony among college students in China. (shrink)

Previous researchers have found that head-down bed rest will affect the emotional state of individuals, and negative emotions such as anxiety are closely related to attention bias. The present study adopted the dot-probe task to evaluate the effects of 15-days of −6° HDBR on the attention bias of threatening stimulus in 17 young men, which was completed before, during, after the bed rest. In addition, self-report inventories were conducted to record emotional changes. The results showed that the participants’ negative affect (...) scores on HDBR-8 were significantly lower than the HDBR-1 in PANAS while there was no significant difference on positive affect scores and anxiety scores in SAI. And the results showed that at the Pre-HDBR, HDBT-1, HDBR-15, Post-HDBR, the response speed to threatening stimulus was faster than neutral stimulus, but no statistical significance. However, reaction time of threatening stimulus is significantly longer than neutral stimulus in the HDBR-8, indicating that HDBR may have an effect on the participants’ attention bias, and this effect is manifested as attention avoidance. (shrink)

Studies have documented that career exploration is significantly associated with CDSE, but how this association occurred is not clear yet. This study committed to clarifying the mechanism underlying the relationship between career exploration and CDSE by investigating the mediation effect of work volition and career adaptability among 586 pre-service kindergarten teachers. The participants are recruited from Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China, covering Han, Hui, and other minorities. They took part in a two-wave longitudinal survey and reported on their (...) career exploration at T1, work volition, career adaptability, and career decision self-efficacy at T2. Results showed that T1 career exploration is directly related to the T2 CDSE. Further, career exploration contributed to the CDSE through both the separated mediation path and the chained mediation path of T2 work volition and T2 career adaptability. The results suggest that individuals who engage in more career exploration activities are likely to have more confidence in their abilities to make career decisions over time, which was partially and serially explained by individuals’ perception of capacity despite constraints and greater self-regulatory strength. This study is a first attempt to deeply clarify the link between career exploration and CDSE, and the findings shed light on the independent and serial mediating effects of work volition and career adaptability. The implications and limitations are discussed. (shrink)

Due to the individual differences controlling brain-computer interfaces, the applicability and accuracy of BCIs based on motor imagery are limited. To improve the performance of BCIs, this article examined the effect of transcranial electrical stimulation on brain activity during MI. This article designed an experimental paradigm that combines tES and MI and examined the effects of tES based on the measurements of electroencephalogram features in MI processing, including the power spectral density and dynamic event-related desynchronization. Finally, we investigated the effect (...) of tES on the accuracy of MI classification using linear discriminant analysis. The results showed that the ERD of the μ and β rhythms in the left-hand MI task was enhanced after electrical stimulation with a significant effect in the tDCS group. The average classification accuracy of the transcranial alternating current stimulation group and transcranial direct current stimulation group were improved significantly compared to the pre-and pseudo stimulation groups. These findings indicated that tES can improve the performance and applicability of BCI and that tDCS was a potential approach in regulating brain activity and enhancing valid features during noninvasive MI-BCI processing. (shrink)

Crowdsourcing platforms are powerful tools for academic researchers. Proponents claim that crowdsourcing helps researchers quickly and affordably recruit enough human subjects with diverse backgrounds to generate significant statistical power, while critics raise concerns about unreliable data quality, labor exploitation, and unequal power dynamics between researchers and workers. We examine these concerns along three dimensions: methods, fairness, and politics. We find that researchers offer vastly different compensation rates for crowdsourced tasks, and address potential concerns about data validity by using platform-specific tools (...) and user verification methods. Additionally, workers depend upon crowdsourcing platforms for a significant portion of their income, are motivated more by fear of losing access to work than by specific compensation rates, and are frustrated by a lack of transparency and occasional unfair treatment from job requesters. Finally, we discuss critical computing scholars’ proposals to address crowdsourcing’s problems, challenges with implementing these resolutions, and potential avenues for future research. (shrink)

As a rapidly growing emerging capital market, China has attracted the attention of both investors and scholars. To alleviate the expectation of external users of listed companies’ financial statements to “discount” items in levels 2 and 3 of the fair value measurement, listed companies will treat these items as conditional conservatism. It refers to the conservatism of companies when confirming bad news of unrealized gains and losses sooner than confirming good news. A sample was selected for empirical analysis to (...) verify the existence of this relationship. The results are as follows: the higher the proportion of levels 2 and 3 fair value measurements, the stronger the conditional conservatism of the company’s profit and loss; the higher the proportion of cash holding of operating activities in a company’s operating profit and the higher the audit quality, the higher the proportion of levels 2 and 3 fair value hierarchy measurements, and the stronger the conditional conservatism of the company’s profit and loss; and the lesser the internal control defects in a company, the higher the proportion of levels 2 and 3 fair value hierarchy measurements, and the stronger the conditional conservatism of its profit and loss. The findings provide empirical evidence to identify listed companies adopting conditional conservatism to alleviate discounting expectations of fair value items of financial statements’ external users and provide a reference for improving the standards and regulation of listed companies. (shrink)

In defining man, pre-Qin Confucianists first starts a discussion about the differences between man and beast. This is the Differences between Beast and Man. For the Differences between Beast and Man, pre-Qin Confucianists never analyze the differences between man and other animals from an ontological viewpoint through pure factual elements. Rather, they distinguish between man and beast from a normative viewpoint. The distinction between man and beast leads to a logical conclusion that, as man is fundamentally superior to beast, 'Man (...) is a different species from beast'. Understanding man in this way is common to all pre-Qin Confucianists, although there are some differences. After examining what humane is based on the difference between man and beast, pre-Qin Confucianists discuss the issue of human perfection with a further step. That is a question of the Differences between Sage and Selfhood with respect to how a sage is different from and the same as an ordinary person. Although Confucius states that he cannot set himself up as a sage, Mencius and Xunzi suggest a viewpoint of the Homogeneity of Sage and Selfhood that a sage and an ordinary person (or selfhood) are basically equal. This point is to highlight the universal equality of Sage and Selfhood in which a sage is no different from an ordinary person and any ordinary person can reach the level of a sage through efforts. Thus, pre-Qin Confucianists view man as a being between beast and sage, and, based on that, discuss the issue. In this context, this study intents to analyze the pre-Qin Confucianists' philosophical debate on man based on the viewpoints of the Differences between Beast and Man and the Differences between Sage and Selfhood. (shrink)

In this dissertation I trace (i) the emergence and different stages of the use of the term wén in pre-Qín texts to refer to language-specific conceptualizations of ‘conventionalized behavior’ and (ii) the emergence of the use of the English term culture as a translation of the term wén and as an analytical concept in discussions of ‘cultural identity’ in early China. I do so by proposing a linguistic anthropological approach to the study of historical changes in collectively shared conceptualizations of (...) ‘conventionalized behavior’ through lexical changes in text corpora. Combining theories of metaculture with theories of lexicalization enables me to analyze pre-Qín concepts of ‘tradition’ or ‘culture’ as language-specific metacultural concepts which are anchored in particular historical contexts. This dissertation contributes to our understanding of the term wén in three ways. First, I argue that metacultural uses of wén did not exist in the pre-Zhànguó period. At that time when wén was used to refer to positive attributes of individuals of noble rank, it meant ‘awe-inspiringly beautiful.’ This use of wén derived from more the basic meaning ‘decorative pattern’ through processes of metaphorical extension and abstraction. This dissertation thereby offers new insight into the social importance of externally visible beauty in early Zhōu society by proposing that pre-Zhànguó uses of wén referred to physical appearance rather than acquired moral traits (as proposed in the Chinese commentarial tradition). Second, I argue that metacultural uses of wén referring to the abstract concept of ‘(patterns in) conventionalized behavior’ developed in the Zhànguó period (481-221 BCE) from the earlier meaning of ‘awe-inspiringly beautiful.’ By providing a chronology of these changes, I avoid the anachronistic interpretations of wén which originated in the Chinese commentarial tradition and which have continued to influence the way scholars translate the term to the present day. Third, I show that the wide-spread assumption that wén means ‘culture’ is a relatively recent phenomenon that owes more to the increasing popularity of the term culture in the English language over the last two centuries than to a deepening of our understanding of the pre-Qín metacultural concept referred to by the term wén. (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)

: There is a view that Ruists never put much emphasis on qing and even saw it in a negative light. This is perhaps a misunderstanding, especially in regard to pre-Qin Ruism. In the Guodian Xing zi ming chu, the passage "dao begins in qing" plays an important role in our understanding of the pre-Qin notion of qing. This article concentrates on the "theory of qing" in both pre-Qin Ruism and Daoism and attempts a philosophical interpretation of "dao begins in (...) qing," and in the process offers philosophical interpretations of a number of important notions. (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)

이 논문은 현대인이 앓고 있는 감정 과잉의 문제에 대한 해결책을 전통적 감정 담론, 특히 풍부한 감수성을 계발하도록 하면서도 감정의 적절한 표출을 위한 조절을 강조했던 선진 시기의 유가 철학에서 참고해보고자 하는 시도이다. 이러한 연구는 덕 윤리로서 유가 윤리가 인격 수양으로 표현되는 덕 획득의 구조 내에서 감정을 어떻게 다루었는지를 체계 적으로 재구성하는 작업이다. 이러한 작업은 당연히 덕 윤리의 일반적 체계 속에서 감정이 어떤 위상을 가지고 있는지, 어떻게 교육(계발)될 수 있는지 혹은 감정의 특성을 고려할 때 교육(계발)이라는 것 자체가 가능한지, 그리고 여러 덕들의 획득 (...) 방식과 어떤 유사성이 나 차이점이 있는지를 먼저 검토하는 것으로 이루어졌다. 그리고 이것을 바탕으로 선진 유 가가 자아 수양의 방식으로 활용한, 대표적인 양식인 예를 중심으로 규칙, 감정과 습관화 라는 큰 틀에서 유가의 감정 수양 방식, 즉 감정의 습관화 방식을 재구성하였다. 이러한 검토는 감정 조절(혹은 감정 교육이나 수양)이 얼마나 복잡한 문제이고 다양한 요소들을 함께 고려하는 문제임을 알 게 해 줄 것이며 유가의 인격 수양 이론을 다시 검토하는 계기 를 제공할 것이다. (shrink)

There is a view that Ruists never put much emphasis on qing and even saw it in a negative light. This is perhaps a misunderstanding, especially in regard to pre-Qin Ruism. In the Guodian Xing zi ming chu, the passage "dao begins in qing" (dao shi yu qing) plays an important role in our understanding of the pre-Qin notion of qing. This article concentrates on the "theory of qing" in both pre-Qin Ruism and Daoism and attempts a philosophical interpretation of (...) "dao begins in qing," and in the process offers philosophical interpretations of a number of important notions. (shrink)

There is a view that Ruists never put much emphasis on qing and even saw it in a negative light. This is perhaps a misunderstanding, especially in regard to pre-Qin Ruism. In the Guodian Xing zi ming chu, the passage "dao begins in qing" plays an important role in our understanding of the pre-Qin notion of qing. This article concentrates on the "theory of qing" in both pre-Qin Ruism and Daoism and attempts a philosophical interpretation of "dao begins in qing," (...) and in the process offers philosophical interpretations of a number of important notions. (shrink)

선진유가는 다양한 시도를 통해 유가의 이론적 기반을 강화하며, 이 과정에서 정감을 적극적으로 활용한다. 예의 근본이 어디에 위치하는지에 대한 문제를 탐구할 때에 선진유 가는 예의 근본이 진실한 정감에 있다고 주장한다. 예의 형식은 변할 수 있지만 그 안에 내재된 진실한 정감은 영원히 변하지 않아야 한다고 믿었기 때문이다. 나아가 선진유가는 정감의 연쇄적인 작용을 분석하며 하늘의 법칙에서부터 본성․정감․구체적인 행동까지 의 과정을 모식화하여 인간을 해석하는데 정감을 활용한다. 한편, 선진유가는 인간의 내면 에 주목하여 이상적인 정치에 관해 논의를 시도한다. 선진유가는 위정자가 도덕적 정감을 정치적 영역으로 확장시킬 수 (...) 있다면 이상적인 정치를 실현할 수 있다고 강력히 주장한다. 이는 도덕적인 정감을 기반으로 한 행동과 결정이 정치의 성패를 결정한다는 신념을 나타 내며, 정치적인 행위가 도덕적 가치와 일치할 때에만 바람직한 결과를 얻을 수 있다고 믿 은 것이다. 다시 말해 선진유가는 정감을 통해 인간의 내면을 이해하고, 이를 기반으로 한 이상적인 정치를 추구하는 철학적인 방식을 제시하고 있다. (shrink)

Earlier studies of the term wén 文 in pre-Qín texts do not fully explain the relation-ship between its basic meaning ‘ pattern’ and its more abstract meanings ‘moral refinement’ and ‘tradition of conventionalized behavior’. In contrast, I argue that, when used as an epithet describing individuals in pre-Zhànguó texts, wén meant something like ‘awe-inspiringly beautiful’, rather than ‘accomplished’ or ‘cultured’ as proposed in earlier studies and translations. Wearing clothes embroidered with ‘rank indicating emblems’ and possessing ‘decorated’ accoutrements signaling authority were (...) the prerogatives of members of the high nobility. It was not an acquired property. The meaning ‘awe-inspiringly beautiful’ derived from ‘decorative pattern’ through metaphorical extension. This analysis of wén helps us avoid the anachronistic moral interpretations often found in traditional commentaries and in modern translations of pre-Zhànguó texts, and improves our understanding of the role played by physical appearance in the construction of social hierarchies in the pre-Zhànguó period. In contrast, in Zhànguó-period texts such as the Zuǒzhuàn, wén was reanalyzed in moral terms, thereby giving rise to adjectival uses referring to ‘morally refined’ ‘noble men’. In the Lúnyǔ, adjectival wén in the sense ‘morally refined’ is applied to dynasties. Nominalized versions of adjectival wén then give rise to even more abstract uses referring to the ‘moral refinement’ of the Zhōu, that is, the ideal ‘patterns of social mores and conventionalized practices established by the former kings’, as in Lúnyǔ 9.5. Such uses of wén are often translated into English as culture. However, since the words culture and wén derive metaphorically from different basic meanings, i.e., ‘growing/cultivating’ and ‘decorating/applying an external pattern’, respectively, and since they refer to different, language- and tradition-specific concepts of ‘conventionalized behavior’ or ‘culture’, such translations are often infelicitous or misleading. (shrink)

Discussions of name during the pre-Qin and Qin-Han period of Chinese history were very active. The concept ming at that time can be divided into two categories, one is the ethical-political meaning of the term and the other is the linguistic-logical understanding. The former far exceeds the latter in terms of overall influence on the development of Chinese intellectual history. But it is the latter that has received the most attention in the 20th century, due to the influence of Western (...) logic. This has led to the result of a bias in the contemporary studies of ming. Changing course by returning to the correct path of intellectual history can providing an objective and thorough ordering of the pre-Qin discourse on ming. (shrink)

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)

“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)

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)

“성인은 무엇인가”라는 물음에 대해 유가들은 주저하지 않고 구체적인 성인의 이름과 활약상을 드는 것으로 성인이 가진 내포적 함의와 특징 등의 개념적 분석들을 대신해 버린다. 전통 유가들은 기본적으로 성인이란 철학적 관념을 하나의 자명한 현실적 사실 즉 그들이 행한 실천의 내용 혹은 업적이라는 관점 또는 방향에서 다루고 있지, 결코 그것이 가진 개념적인 정의를 주된 논의의 대상으로 삼아 분석하거나 논증하고 있지는 않는다. 이런 식의 대답을 하게 되는 중요한 이유는 유가뿐만 아니라 중국 고대 철학자들의 입장에서 성인이 가지고 있는 가장 중요한 의미 혹은 역할은 바로 어지럽고 (...) 힘든 세상을 구원하는 ‘聖人救世論’에 집중되어 있기 때문이다. 이른바 ‘성인구세론’은 성인이 가진 중요한 역할인 동시에 성인 출현의 기원이기도 하다. 동시에 성인숭배론이 출현하게 되는 기원이기도 하다. 이런 점에서 성인에 대한 논의를 복희, 요, 순, 문, 무, 공자 등의 구체적인 성인들을 말하는 것에서 시작하는 점은 그 자체로 충분히 이해가 되는 측면이 있다. 여기에서 성인을 만드는 造聖이라는 聖化 혹은 聖人化라는 문제와 직접적으로 연결된다. 본 논문은 성인이 가지고 있는 기본적 성격을 규명하는 방법 혹은 관점으로 선진시기 유가들의 ‘성인숭배’의 기원을 ‘성인구세론’이라는 관점에서 분석하려고 한다. 성인 관념의 출현은 다름 아닌 신의 숭배[崇神]에서 성인의 숭배[崇聖]로의 전환을 의미하는데, 이 문제를 논의하기 위해서는 중국 상고시대의 종교적 내용의 변화라는 문제와 관련하여 생각할 필요가 있을 것으로 보인다. 상고시기부터 존재하였던 聖의 의미가 신의 명령을 듣는다는 측면에 치중하였던 것에서 인간의 개인적인 능력을 강조하는 聖 개념으로의 전환이 일어나게 되고 이에 따라 성인구세론과 성인화 운동이 동반되게 된다. (shrink)