Law and Morality in Ancient China: The Silk Manuscripts of Huang-LaoHuang-Lao thought, a unique and sophisticated political philosophy which combines elements of Daoism and Legalism, dominated the intellectual life of late Warring States and Early Han China, providing the ideological foundation for post-Qin reforms. In the absence of extant texts, however, scholars of classical Chinese philosophy remained in the dark about this important school for over 2000 years. Finally, in 1973, archaeologists unearthed four ancient silk scrolls: the Silk Manuscripts of Huang-Lao. This work is the first detailed, book-length treatment in English of these lost treasures. |
Contents
INTRODUCTION | 1 |
11 Text | 6 |
12 Title | 7 |
13 Authorship | 9 |
14 Dating | 12 |
2 Methodology | 19 |
A Hermeneutical Framework | 20 |
THE NATURAL WAY OF HUANGLAO | 27 |
23 A HuangLao Critique | 133 |
THE PRAGMATIC STATESMANSHIP OF HAN FEI | 139 |
1 Han Feis Legal Positivism | 140 |
12 Rule by Positive Law | 142 |
2 Han Feis Pragmatic Arts of Rulership | 153 |
2 1 The Practical Way of Han Fei | 154 |
22 Han Feis Legalist State | 161 |
The Daoist Ways of Lao Zi and ZKuan Zi | 171 |
11 Huang Lao Naturalism | 28 |
12 HuangLao Foundationalism | 31 |
2 The Nature of Nature | 41 |
21 Nature as Impersonal | 42 |
22 Nature as Constant | 43 |
3 The Place of Humans Within the Natural Order | 51 |
Forms and Names | 55 |
Principle | 61 |
4 Following the Way | 62 |
42 Metaphors of Compliance | 64 |
43 HuangLao Epistemology | 70 |
THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF HUANGLAO | 75 |
1 HuangLao Natural Law Furisprudence | 76 |
12 Rule of Natural Law | 79 |
2 The HuangLoo State | 84 |
22 Centralized Feudal Bureaucracy | 92 |
23 Government for the People | 98 |
THE ANTHROPOCENTRIC PRAGMATISM OF CONFUCIUS | 103 |
1 General Character of Confuciuss Philosophy | 105 |
12 Pragmatic Coherence and the LogicalAesthetic Distinction | 113 |
2 Confuciuss Social and Political Philosophy | 118 |
22 Politics of Harmony | 126 |
1 Lao Zis Way | 172 |
11 Zhi as Discovery | 177 |
12 Dao as Emergent Order | 191 |
2 Zhuang Zis Way | 197 |
22 Zhuang Zis Politics of Harmony | 205 |
THE EVOLUTION OF HUANGLAO THOUGHT | 217 |
11 Emergence of Naturalism | 218 |
12 Jixia Academy | 224 |
2 Ascendence in the Early Han | 242 |
22 HuangLao Policies and Early Han Politics | 244 |
3 The Fall from Power | 249 |
32 Explaining the Fall | 251 |
4 Denouement | 256 |
42 Naturalism and Immortality | 257 |
EPILOGUE | 263 |
1 HuangLao and Contemporary Philosophy | 265 |
2 HuangLao and Contemporary Furisprudence in the PRC | 266 |
HE GUAN ZI AND HUANGLAO THOUGHT | 273 |
Notes | 285 |
Bibliography | 355 |
375 | |
Other editions - View all
Law and Morality in Ancient China: The Silk Manuscripts of Huang-Lao R. P. Peerenboom Limited preview - 1993 |
Law and Morality in Ancient China: The Silk Manuscripts of Huang-Lao R. P. Peerenboom Limited preview - 1993 |
Common terms and phrases
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