Pines Dao Companion to China’s fa Tradition

The Philosophy of Governance by Impartial Standards
1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-3-031-53630-4
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, Band 19, 692 Seiten, eBook

Reihe: Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy

This volume offers the most comprehensive introduction to the ideas of ancient Chinese thinkers who looked to perfect a political system thru the emphasis on impersonal standards, laws, and norms (fa).  This book covers the works of these thinkers, misleadingly dubbed Legalists, as well as the controversies they aroused, the legacy they left behind, and their potential relevance. The fa thinkers contributed decisively to the formation of China’s first unified empire in 221 BCE, but this contribution was not widely acknowledged. Their derision of the moralizing discourse of their rivals, dismissal of independent intellectuals as self-serving hypocrites, and advocacy of a powerful centralized state did not endear them to most Chinese literati. To a certain extent, these reservations remain visible in modern research, which explains why a comprehensive study of the fa traditions is still lacking. This volume fills that gap.

The first of four parts introduces major texts and thinkers of the fa tradition from the Warring States (453-221 BCE) to the Former Han (206/202 BCE-9 CE) periods. The second part analyzes the major ideas of the fa texts, including concepts of fa and their implementation in political and legal spheres, views of human nature, state-society relations, rulership, morality in politics, the evolutionary view of history, and philosophy of language. The third part focuses on the changing attitudes toward fa ideas in imperial and modern China. The fourth part explores the ideas of fa advocates from a comparative perspective—both against intellectual currents in early China and Western traditions such as Machiavellianism and totalitarianism. This book serves as a reference for students and researchers in ancient Chinese history and thought, and comparatists in the field of political philosophy.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Pines, Yuri

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction:

0. The fa Tradition in Chinese Philosophy

Yuri Pines, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Part I: Major texts and thinkers

1. The Book of Lord Shang: The Ideology of the Total State

         Yuri Pines, Hebrew University

2. Shen Buhai’s Theory of fa

         Yu Zhong ??, China University of Political Science and Law

         Translated: Avital Rom

3. Morality in the Shenzi ?? Fragments                                        

         Eirik Lang Harris, Colorado State University

4. Han Feizi: The World Driven by Self-Interest

         Yuri Pines, Hebrew University

5. The Concept of fa in Guanzi and its Evolution                             

         Sato Masayuki ????, National Taiwan University

6. The Ideology of Chao Cuo                                                            

         Christian Schwermann, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Part II: Major Ideas of the fa Traditions

7. Rule by Impersonal Standards in the Early Empire: Ideas and Realities             

         Maxim Korolkov, Heidelberg University

8. Fa and the Early Legal System                                                     

Ulrich Lau, Hamburg University, and Michael Lüdke, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

9. Two Perspectives on the Fa Tradition: Politics versus the Rule of Impartial Standards

         Song Hongbing, Renmin University of China

         Translated: Ashton Ng

10. Human Motivation in the fa Tradition:

         Visions from the Shenzi Fragments, Shangjunshu, and Han Feizi                   

         Eirik Lang Harris, Colorado State University

11. The ruler in fa-based Government

         Mark E. Lewis, Stanford University

12. The Historiography of Political Realism                                    

         Kai Vogelsang, Hamburg University 

13. The Ruler’s New Tools: Fa ? and the Political Paradigm of Measure in Early China           

         Romain Graziani, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon

14. Philosophy of Language in the fa Tradition                                

         Lisa Indraccolo, Tallinn University

15. The fa Tradition and Morality                                                     

         Alexus McLeod, Indiana University

Part III: Fa Traditions in history

16. The Historical Reputation of the fa Tradition in Imperial China                       

         Song Hongbing ???, Renmin University 

         Translated: John Donegan-Cross

17. The fa Tradition and Its Modern Fate: The Case of the Book of Lord Shang                                                                                                             

         Yuri Pines, Hebrew University Part IV: Comparative Perspectives

18. The fa Tradition versus Confucianism: Intellectuals, the State, and Meritocracy                  

         Yuri Pines, Hebrew University

19. Fajia and the Mohists

         Tao Jiang, Rutgers University

20. Laozi, Huang-Lao and the fa Tradition: Thinking through the Term xingming ??        

         Wang Pei ??, Eastern China University of Political Science and Law

         Translated by Cao Yan; Revisions by Avital Rom

21. Machiavelli and the fa Tradition                                                 

Jason P. Blahuta, Lakehead University

22. The Book of Lord Shang and Totalitarianism’s Intellectual Precursors Compared              

         Alexandre Schiele, Hebrew University

Epilogue

23. The Han Feizi and its Contemporary Relevance

         Bai Tongdong, Fudan University

Über Autor(innen)

Yuri Pines ?? is Professor of Chinese History at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research focuses on early Chinese political thought, Chinese political culture, early Chinese history and historiography, and comparative imperiology. His monographs include The Book of Lord Shang: Apologetics of State Power in Early China (2017); The Everlasting Empire: The Political Culture of Ancient China and Its Imperial Legacy (2012); and Envisioning Eternal Empire: Chinese Political Thought of the Warring States Era (2009). He co-edited six books on Chinese history and thought, and on comparative imperiology.