Law and Morality in Ancient China: The Silk Manuscripts of Huang-Lao

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SUNY Press, Jan 1, 1993 - Philosophy - 380 pages
Huang-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
Index
375
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