Mencian Hermeneutics

by Huang,Chun-chieh

• ISBN13: 9780765801074
• ISBN10: 0765801078
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-08-31
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Considered second only to Confucius in the history of Chinese thought, Mencius (371?-289 B.C.), was a moral philosopher whose arguments, while pragmatically rooted in the political and social conditions of his time, go beyond particular situations to probe their origins and speculate on their larger implications. His writings constitute a living tradition in China and the world at large. Sinological studies of Mencius have long emphasized philological and archaeological research, situating the texts mainly in Chinese history. Critical appraisal of the texts lends itself to Western traditions of interpretation. In Mencian Hermeneutics, Chun-chieh Huang utilizes both approaches to offer a historical and universal understanding of Mencius.Huang builds from the premise that Mencius' thinking and all Chinese thought are sociopolitical in tone and humanistic and metaphysical in nature and range. The strength of Mencius' thought lies in the organic mutuality of these factors. His arguments are shaped by the politics, literature, and economics of his age. At the same time, the concrete programs he proposed and his sharp criticisms of alter

Author Biography

Chun-chieh Huang is a professor of history and chairman of the Commission of General Education at National Taiwan University in Taipei

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	v
Prologue	vii
Introduction	1	(18)
Part 1: The Text, the Man, the Ideas	19	(84)
Mencius the Man and the Thinker	21	(7)
Mencius the Man	21	(2)
Mencius the Thinker	23	(5)
Harmonia Mundi in Homo-Mundane, Anthropo-Ecological, and Hsin-ch'i-hsing Unity	28	(25)
Harmonia Mundi	28	(2)
Homo-Mundane Continuum	30	(6)
Anthropo-ecological Interdependence	36	(6)
Hsin-ch'i-hsing Harmony	42	(9)
Conclusion	51	(2)
Social Dimension: ``Rightness''(yi) Versus ``Profit''(li)	53	(27)
Introduction	53	(3)
Historical Background	56	(7)
Yi vs. li Perfected	63	(7)
Impacts Deflected: Yang Chu, Mo Tzu, and Hsun Tzu	70	(7)
Conclusion	77	(3)
Political Dimension: Populist Government of Familiar Empathy	80	(23)
Introduction	80	(1)
Ideal Government	81	(12)
Mencius' Political Ideals: A Comparison	93	(2)
Impacts of Mencius' Ideal	95	(4)
Conclusion	99	(4)
Part 2: Mencius in Context	103	(152)
Hermeneutics as Apologetics (I): Hsun Tzu Contra Mencius	105	(25)
The Problem	105	(5)
Hsun Tzu's Pairs of Rhetorical Accusations	110	(7)
Mencius' Hsin and Hsun Tzu	117	(5)
Mencius' Tao and Hsun Tzu	122	(4)
Hsun Tzu's Distortion of Tradition	126	(2)
Conclusion	128	(2)
Hermeneutics as Apologetics (II): Mind-Body Unity in On Five Activities	130	(25)
Introduction	130	(3)
Mind-Heart and Body-Self, Divided, Unified	133	(11)
``Deliberation'' and ``Caution [when] Alone'': Mencius' Self-cultivation Developed	144	(10)
Conclusion	154	(1)
Hermeneutics as Politics: The Sung Debates over the Mencius	155	(17)
Mencius-Controversies: The Why	155	(4)
Mencius-Controversies: The What	159	(8)
Chinese Hermeneutics As Politics	167	(5)
Hermeneutics as Pilgrimage (I): Impacts on Chu Hsi	172	(13)
Mencius' ``Self-cultivation'' (2A2)	172	(3)
Chu Hsi's Interpretation	175	(3)
Contra Chu Hsi	178	(7)
Hermeneutics as Pilgrimage (II): Impacts on Wang Yangming	185	(26)
Introduction	185	(2)
Wang Yang-ming's Mencius-Hermeneutics	187	(12)
Yang-ming Hermeneutics as Pilgrimage	199	(5)
``Contemporary Significance''	204	(5)
Conclusion	209	(2)
Hermeneutics as Apologetics (III): Tai Chen's Mencian Normativity Within Desire	211	(22)
The Importance of Tai Chen	211	(4)
Meng Tzu Tzu-Yi Shu-Cheng	215	(1)
Tai's Impressive Strengths	216	(10)
Eight Critiques	226	(5)
Conclusion	231	(2)
Mencius' Encounter with Modernity: T'ang Chun-i, Hsu Fu-kuan, Mou Tsung-san	233	(22)
Introduction	233	(2)
T'ang, Hsu, and Mou Compared	235	(5)
New Interpretations of Mencius' ``Mind-heart Theory''	240	(9)
Mencius' Political Ideals for ``Today''	249	(3)
Conclusion	252	(3)
Epilogue: Chinese Hermeneutics as Politics, Apologetics, Pilgrimage	255	(14)
Appendix: A Chronology of Mencian Hermeneutics	269	(4)
Bibliography	273	(20)
Glossary	293	(8)
Index	301	(14)
Index of Passages in the Mencius	315