Focusing the Familiar

by Ames, Roger T.; Hall, David L.

• ISBN13: 9780824824600
• ISBN10: 0824824601
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-08-01
• Publisher: Univ of Hawaii Pr

Summary

The Zhongyong -- translated here as Focusing the Familiar -- has been regarded as a document of enormous wisdom for more than two millennia and is one of Confucianism's most sacred and seminal texts. With this new translation Roger Ames and David Hall provide a distinctly philosophical interpretation of the Zhongyong, remaining attentive to the semantic and conceptual nuances of the text to account for its central place within classical Chinese literature. They present the text in such a way as to provide Western philosophers and other intellectuals access to a set of interpretations and arguments that offer new insights into issues and concerns common to both Chinese and Western thinkers. In addition to the annotated translation, a glossary of terms gives in concise form important senses of the terms that play a key role in the argument of the Zhongyong. An appendix addresses some of the more technical issues relevant to the understanding of both the history of the text and the history of its English translations.

Author Biography

David L. Hall is presently professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Preface	xi
Introduction: A Philosophical Interpretation of the Zhongyong	1	(1)
The Importance of the Zhongyong	1	(2)
Problems of Translation	3	(16)
Identifying ``Philosophical'' Texts	3	(2)
The Language of Focus and Field	5	(14)
Things, Processes, Events	8	(3)
Causality, Power, Creativity	11	(4)
Clarity, Univocity, Linguistic Clustering	15	(4)
Qi and Correlative Cosmology: The Interpretive Context of the Zhongyong	19	(7)
The Central Argument of the Zhongyong	26	(126)
Cheng and ``Creativity''	30	(5)
``Creativity (cheng ),'' ``Natural Tendencies (xing ),'' and ``Emotions (qing )''	35	(3)
``Family'' as Governing Metaphor	38	(2)
Ritual Propriety (li ) in the Zhongyong	40	(91)
Ritual Propriety (li) and ``Focusing the Familiar (zhongyong )''	43	(7)
Ritual Propriety (li) and Education (jiao ) as Growth and Extension	50	(3)
Notes to the Introduction	53	(8)
Glossary of Key Terms	61	(28)
Focusing the Familiar: A Translation of the Zhongyong	89	(26)
Notes to the Translation	115	(16)
Appendix
1. The Text of the Zhongyong	131	(17)
1.1 The Zhongyong and the ``Zisi-Mencius Lineage''	131	(6)
1.2 Zisi and the ``Five Modes of Proper Conduct (wuxing )'' Doctrine	137	(6)
1.3 The Zhongyong: A Composite Document	143	(2)
1.4 Dating the Zhongyong	145	(1)
1.5 Master Zisi: The Person	146	(2)
2. Interpretations of the Zhongyong	148	(4)
2.1 Revisiting the Opening Passage	148	(2)
2.2 Why Zhongyong is not a ``Doctrine of the Mean''	150	(2)
Notes to the Appendix	152	(3)
Bibliography of Works Cited	155	(6)
Index	161