Philosophy on Bamboo: Text and the Production of Meaning in Early China

Author:
Dirk Meyer

Publisher:
Brill

Publication Year:
2013

Abstract:
Scholarship on early Chinese thought has long tended to treat texts as mere repositories of ideas rather than as meaningful objects in their own right. Not only does this approach present an idealised account of China’s intellectual past, but it also imposes artificial boundaries between textual and philosophical traditions. As the first study to treat text as a cultural phenomenon during the Warring States period, this book demonstrates the interplay among the material conditions of text and manuscript culture, writing, and thought. Through close readings of philosophical texts excavated at Guōdiàn 郭店, it analyses crucial strategies of meaning construction and casts light on the ways in which different communities used texts to philosophical ends. Meyer thus establishes new understandings of the correlation between ideas, their material carrier, and the production of meaning in early China.

Table of Contents:

Preliminary Material
Source: pp i –x

INTRODUCTION
Source: pp 1 –28

1. The “Zhōng xin zhī dao” 忠信之道 “The Way of Fidelity and Trustworthiness”
Source: pp 29 –52

2. The “Qiong da yı ̌ shi” 窮達以時 “Failure and Success Appear at Their Respective Times”
Source: pp 53 –76

3. The “Wǔ xing” 五行 “Five Aspects of Virtuous Conduct”
Source: pp 77 –130

4. The “Xing zi ming chū” 性自命出 “Human Nature is Brought Forth by Decree”
Source: pp 131 –174

5. Text, Structure, Meaning
Source: pp 175 –207

6. Applying the Methodology: “Tai yī shēng shuı ̌” 太一生水 “The Ultimate One Gives Birth to Water” and “Lǎozı ̌” 老子
Source: pp 209 –226

7. Writing Meaning: Material Conditions of Meaning Construction in Warring States Philosophy
Source: pp 227 –244

8. Conclusion: Writing Philosophy
Source: pp 245 –254

9. Reconstructing the “Zhōng xin zhī dao” 忠信之道
Source: pp 255 –267

10. Reconstructing the “Qiong da yı ̌ shi” 窮達以時
Source: pp 269 –282

11. Reconstructing the “Wǔ xing”
Source: pp 283 –309

12. Reconstructing the “Xing zi ming chū” 性自命出
Source: pp 311 –351

13. Reconstructing the “Tai yī shēng shuı ̌” 太一生水
Source: pp 353 –361

Bibliography
Source: pp 363 –385

Index

Source: pp 387 –395