Sinologists
usually present Chinese thought as philosophy for non-philosophers. They
present Daoism (Taoism) as a paradigm. I agree that Daoism is a paradigm, but
proceed on the hypothesis that it is serious philosophy. My view of Daoism
obviously differs from the tradition. I treat Daoism as a skeptical,
reflective, and philosophically mature critique of the ethical dispute between
Confucianism and Mohism. The famous paradoxes serve to motivate doubt and
further reflection; they do not signal a devotion to mystical or anti-rational
nonsense. I proceed on the hypothesis that most of the familiar central
thinkers asked serious, genuine questions and sought sound answers. The questions,
however, were different as were the background assumptions that influenced
their assessment of the answers.
Since
Graham's monumental study of the Later Mohists[1], most
scholars now allow that some Chinese thinkers thought in ways that we
would now call "philosophical." Still, they bifurcate the tradition
and maintain that the mainstream traditional thinkers, particularly the
Daoists, had a radically different way of thinking. The two strands of Classical
thought never touched. I disagree and attempt to produce a unified interpretive
theory which integrates philosophy of language in the social-political dialogue
of the period. I argue here that the alleged uniquely Chinese way of thinking
is an artifact of naive interpretation and uncritical parroting of a
traditional Confucian credo. Two millennia of Confucian and other religious
reading have buried the philosophical integrity of Laozi and Zhuangzi under
piles of dogma.
I
divide the period into four phases, three represent a dialectal growth of
philosophical insight. The fourth invites its decline and eventual destruction
under political repression. The detailed table of contents comes in two
sections.
An Introduction with Work to Do
The Context of Chinese Philosophy:
Language and Theory of Language
The Schools of Names: Linguisic Analysis in China
Xunzi: Pragmatic Confucianism
A Daoist Theory of Chinese
Thought: A Philosophical Interpretation, New York, Oxford University
Press, 1992. pp. xv-448
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements
An Introduction with Work to Do
The New Perspective and Philosophical Progress
The Ruling Interpretive Theory
The translation paradigm
The Fragmented-Schools View
The Philosophical Worth of Chinese Thought
The Rehabilitation of Daoism
Summary
The Context of Chinese Philosophy:
Language and Theory of Language
Geographical Setting
Pre-Historic Influences Language
Geographical Setting
The Social Context: Some Conclusions
Miscellaneous Other Topics
Mozi: Setting the Philosophical Agenda
Life of Mozi
Crafts and Guiding, Objective Standards
The Attack on Traditionalism
The Role of the Natural Urge
Morality: Motivation and Justification
Universal Love in Interpersonal Relations
Reason and Right in the Mozi
Mozi's Theory of Language
Part Two: The Antilanguage Period
Background: The Double Challenge to Confucianism
Mencius' Philosophical Calling
Mencius' Lasting Influence
Theoretical Interpretation
The Text of the Daode Jing
Hui Shi's Paradoxes The World is One
Summary: The School of Names
An Interpretive Manifesto
Zhuangzi's Place in the Pre-Han Dialogue
Zhuangzi: Textual and Historical Issues
The Refutation of Mencius
The Refutation of Absolute Monism (Primitive Daoism)
Dreaming and Skepticism in Zhuangzi
Practical Advice
The Interpretive Dilemma
Xunzi's Intellectual Influences
Philosophy of Heart Mind
Historical Survey of Statecraft in China
Authoritarian Taoism
The Aftermath
1.
The Computer
Analogy
2.
The Computer
Analogy and Human Dignity
3.
Mentalese and
Conventional Language
4.
The Theory of
Ideas and Chinese Language
Return to Intro
1.
Pictographs
and Ideographs
2.
Meaning,
Translation and the Mental
3.
Emotionless
Tone
4.
Ordered
Grammar
5.
Building
Blocks of Language
6.
Structure and
Interpretation
7.
Mass Terms and
Scope Metaphysics
8.
Scope and
Grammatical Categories
9.
Scope and
Ontological Relativity
10. The Regulative Role of Language
11. Language and Psychology
Return to Context
1.
The
Educational Hierarchy
2.
The Role of
Rulers
3.
Confucian
opposition to Law and Punishment
4.
Rectifying
Names
Return to Confucius
1.
Injecting
Human Nature
2.
The Importance
of Modeling
3.
The Role of
Intuition
4.
Language: A
Paradigm
5.
Confucian
Conventionalism and Western Folk Psychology
6.
Applied
Psychology of Education
7.
Human Nature
and the Role of Ren
8.
Morality and
Human Nature
Return to Confucius
1.
Dao and Metaphysics
2.
Literature: Li, Music, and Poetry
Return to Confucius
Ren and Confucian
Theory of Language
1.
Innatism and
the Unspoken Dao
2.
Philosophy and
Code Skepticism
Return to Confucius
1.
The Effect of
Confucian Ideology on Translation
2.
Style Slander
Return to Mozi
1.
Cultivation,
Character and the Heart-mind
2.
Models of Dao
Return to Mozi
The Paradox of Moral Reform
Varieties of Constancy
Inheritance Constancy
Projection Constancy
Pragmatic Constancy
The Self-Defeating Nature of a Dao of Partiality
Might Mozi's Dao be
self-effacing?
The Natural or Heavenly Dao
Return to Mozi
Guidance by Name-Pairs
The Malleability of Human
Moral Character
Spirits and Fate
Return to Mozi
1.
Comparison to
Hobbes
2.
Comparison to
Confucius
Return to Mozi
1.
The Opposition
to Music
2.
The Opposition
to Aggressive War
3.
Criticism of
Confucius
Return to Mozi
Euclidean Rationality and Duty Ethics
The Euclidean Model
The Euclidean Model in
Practical Reasoning--The Practical Syllogism.
Return to Mozi
The Social Character of Language
Operational Test of Knowledge of Words and Distinctions
The Unity of Mozi and Confucius
Return to Mozi
1.
Borrowing
Yang-zhu's Naturalism
2.
The Heart-mind
3.
The Four Fonts
Return to Mencius
1.
Problems with
Heart-mind Theory
2.
Cultivating
the Heart-mind: The Plant Analogy
3.
The
Justification of Intuitionism
Return to Mencius
Logic, Language and Analogy in The Mencius
Return to Mencius
Shendao and the Beginning of Daoist Theory
1.
Dao as a
Philosophical Topic
2.
The
Meaning-Change Hypothesis
3.
The Rejection
of Egoism
4.
The Paradox of
Primitive Daoism
Return to Laozi
Basic Interpretive Hypothesis: Shendao and Language Analysis
1.
Distinctions
and Opposite Names
2.
Distinctions
and Desires
3.
Wei and Wu-wei
Return to Laozi
The Single Ineffable Dao
The Inconstancy of Prescription in Language
The Paradox of the Terms Being and Non Being
Return to Laozi
Negative Discourse, Negative Know how
Scheming Political Methods
Opposition to use of the Senses
Return to Laozi
The Centrality of Bian
Return to School of Names
1.
The Paradox of
Relativism
2.
The Pragmatic
Focus
Return to School of Names
The Analysis: What Phrases are Assertable of
Others?
Return to School of Names
Rectifying Intensional Phrases
Killing Thieves is not
Killing Men
Defense of Universal Love
Return to School of Names
Know (How) To
Return to School of Names
Neo-Mohist Semantics and Chinese Logic
Return to School of Names
1.
The White
Horse Paradox
2.
The Dialogue
on Pointing to Things
Return to School of Names
Knowledge and Language
Return to Zhuangzi
Language and Indexicality
Return to Zhuangzi
Evaluation and Reason
Return to Zhuangzi
1.
Naturalism
2.
The Chain of
Life
3.
Language and
Morality
Return to Xunzi
Xunzi's Definitions
Political Control of the Use of Names
Convention and Pragmatic Utility
The Creation of New Names
The Theory of Naming
The Reason for Having Names
The Basis for Distinctions
of Similar-Different.
The Basic Requirements of Regulating Names
Pragmatic Treatment of the Paradoxes
Using theory of naming to
confuse naming
Using Perspectives on
Reality to Confuse Names
Using Theory of Naming to
Confuse Reality
Return to Xunzi
1.
Dao and Desires
2.
The Textual
Problem
Return to Xunzi
Fa:
Problems about Meaning
The Historical Theory of
Meaning
The Distinction of Meaning
and Reference
Coherence of Nominal and
Verbal Usage
Meaning Gaps and Meaning
Efficiency
Fa
(objective standards) and Elite
Intuition
Return to Hanfeizi
1.
The Confucian
Argument Against Punishment
2.
The Confucian
Argument Against Publicly Accessible Daos
3.
The Liberal
Western argument for Rule of Law
Return to Hanfeizi
1.
Shi: Situation authority
2.
Shu: Methods to Control the State Apparatus
3.
Fa: Public, Measurable Standards.
Return to Hanfeizi
A. C. Graham, Later Mohist Logic, Ethics and Science (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press) 1978.