Nostalgia of the Zhou Dynasty: Rise of Chinese Philosophies
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Presentation Transcript
Themes In Chinese Philosophy
The End of Feudal China • Collapse of Zhou Dynasty • Disintegration of state • Social disorder • Rise of independent kingdoms
The Hundred Schools of Thought • Only Six were important • School of Names (名家, míngjiā) • Yin-Yang School (陰陽家, yīnyángjiā) • Confucianism (儒家, rújiā) • Taoism (道家, dàojiā) • Mohism (墨家, mòjiā) • Legalism (法家, fǎjiā)
The Social Order • Looking for the Way to behave • Dào (道) • The goal is to promote Harmony
Nostalgia • Unity: China ought to be a single state with one ruler • He has the Mandate of Heaven (天命, tiānmìng) • He is the Son of Heaven (天子 tiānzì) • He rules all Under Heaven (天下, tiān xià) Note: Heaven is partly a divinity and partly Nature
Nostalgia • Precedent: the preferred validator • The Five Emperors • The Yellow Emperor (黃帝, huángdì) • Zhuānxū(顓頊) • Dì Kù (帝嚳) • Yao (堯) • Shun (舜) • Yu (禹)
Nostalgia • Precedent: the preferred validator • The Five Classics • Classic of Changes (易經, Yi Jīng). • Classic of Poetry (詩經, Shī Jīng). • Classic of History (書經, Shū Jīng). • Book of Rites (禮記 Lǐ Jì). • Spring and Autumn Annals (春秋 Chūn Qiū).
Nostalgia • The centrality of the family
Idealisation of Nature • Nature has a Yin-Yang duality • The alternation of the two creates cycles
Human Nature • Is Man Good or Bad? • Every man should aim to be a sage (聖, shèng)