Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Dubious Facts: The Evidence of Early Chinese Historiography

作者 Author:
Garret P. S. Olberding

出版社 Publisher:
SUNY

出版年 Publication Year:
2012




簡介 Abstract:

What were the intentions of early China's historians? Modern readers must contend with the tension between the narrators' moralizing commentary and their description of events. Although these historians had notions of evidence, it is not clear to what extent they valued what contemporary scholars would deem "hard" facts. Offering an innovative approach to premodern historical documents, Garret P. S. Olberding argues that the speeches of court advisors reveal subtle strategies of information management in the early monarchic context. Olberding focuses on those addresses concerning military campaigns where evidence would be important in guiding immediate social and political policy. His analysis reveals the sophisticated conventions that governed the imperial advisor's logic and suasion in critical state discussions, which were specifically intended to counter anticipated doubts. Dubious Facts illuminates both the decision-making processes that informed early Chinese military campaigns and the historical records that represent them.

目錄 Table of Contents:

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

2. The Subversive Power of the Historian

3. Politicized Truth and Doubt

4. Interactive Constraints at Court

5. Salient Formal Characteristics of the Addresses

6. Rhetoric in Opposition: Two Zhanguoce
戰國策 Addresses

7. Commitment to the Facts

8. Moral Norms as Facts: Arguing Before the Emperor

9. How Did Ministers Err?

10. A Diversity of Evidence


Notes
Bibliography
Index




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