scholarly journals La sociedad iletrada como utopía política en la antigua China (y hoy mismo)

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-202
Author(s):  
Juan Luis Conde ◽  
Lin Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Han Feizi ◽  
Qin Shihuang

Nuestro artículo recorre las corrientes que a lo largo del clasicismo Nuestro artículo recorre las corrientes que a lo largo del clasicismo chino propiciaron la hostilidad hacia la cultura literaria y confluyeron en la obra de Han Feizi, a finales del siglo III a.C. La tradición confuciana favoreció una concepción elitista y antidemocrática del gobierno al tiempo que sentaba los precedentes de una desconfianza hacia el uso de la elocuencia y la cultura de la palabra y el libro. El taoísmo manifestó hostilidad hacia el intelectualismo, la cultura material y el progreso científico y técnico, llegando a formular claramente utopías ágrafas. Sobre la base de postulados basados en la utilidad y la funcionalidad, el legismo, cuyo último eslabón constituye Han Feizi, recogería ambas corrientes y llevaría al extremo la desconfianza en la cultura literaria tradicional. Asimilando estas ideas, Qin Shihuang, el Primer Emperador, puso en práctica el radicalismo antiliterario con la proscripción de cualquier libertad de expresión y, finalmente, la quema de libros y de eruditos. Mutatis mutandis, el artículo sugiere poner en conexión ese desarrollo con la hostilidad neoliberal contemporánea hacia las Humanidades. chino propiciaron la hostilidad hacia la cultura literaria y confluyeron en la obra de Han Feizi, a finales del siglo III a.C. La tradición confuciana favoreció una concepción elitista y antidemocrática del gobierno al tiempo que sentaba los precedentes de una desconfianza hacia el uso de la elocuencia y la cultura de la palabra y el libro. El taoísmo manifestó hostilidad hacia el intelectualismo, la cultura material y el progreso científico y técnico, llegando a formular claramente utopías ágrafas. Sobre la base de postulados basados en la utilidad y la funcionalidad, el legismo, cuyo último eslabón constituye Han Feizi, recogería ambas corrientes y llevaría al extremo la desconfianza en la cultura literaria tradicional. Asimilando estas ideas, Qin Shihuang, el Primer Emperador, puso en práctica el radicalismo antiliterario con la proscripción de cualquier libertad de expresión y, finalmente, la quema de libros y de eruditos. Mutatis mutandis, el artículo sugiere poner en conexión ese desarrollo con la hostilidad neoliberal contemporánea hacia las Humanidades.

The Art of Chinese Philosophy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Goldin
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Philosophy ◽  
Philosophical Tradition ◽  
Current Form ◽  
Han Feizi ◽  
Textual History ◽  
Classical Chinese ◽  
History Of ◽  
Crucial Characteristic ◽  
The Way

This book provides an unmatched introduction to eight of the most important works of classical Chinese philosophy—the Analects of Confucius, Mozi, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Sunzi, Xunzi, and Han Feizi. The book places these works in rich context that explains the origin and meaning of their compelling ideas. Because none of these classics was written in its current form by the author to whom it is attributed, the book begins by asking, “What are we reading?” and showing that understanding the textual history of the works enriches our appreciation of them. A chapter is devoted to each of the eight works, and the chapters are organized into three sections: “Philosophy of Heaven,” which looks at how the Analects, Mozi, and Mencius discuss, often skeptically, Heaven (tian) as a source of philosophical values; “Philosophy of the Way,” which addresses how Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Sunzi introduce the new concept of the Way (dao) to transcend the older paradigms; and “Two Titans at the End of an Age,” which examines how Xunzi and Han Feizi adapt the best ideas of the earlier thinkers for a coming imperial age. In addition, the book presents explanations of the protean and frequently misunderstood concept of qi—and of a crucial characteristic of Chinese philosophy, nondeductive reasoning. The result is an invaluable account of an endlessly fascinating and influential philosophical tradition.

Worth Vs. Power: Han Fei’s “Objection to Positional Power” Revisited

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuri Pines
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
Warring States Period ◽  
Warring States ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Han Feizi ◽  
Positional Power ◽  
Political Message ◽  
Chinese Political Thought

AbstractThis article discusses the chapter “Objection to Positional Power” (Nan shi 難勢) of Han Feizi 韓非子. It provides a full translation cum analysis of the text and explores systematically the chapter’s structure, rhetoric, and its political message. The discussion, which contextualizes the chapter’s message within broader trends of the Warring States-period political debates, demonstrates that beneath the surface of debates about “positional power” (shi 勢) versus “worth” (xian 賢), the chapter addresses one of the touchiest issues in Chinese political thought: that of the intrinsic weakness of hereditary monarchy. Furthermore, “Objection to Positional Power” also addresses problems of the meritocratic system of rule and elucidates some of the reasons for Han Fei’s dislike of meritocratic discourse. By highlighting some of the chapter’s intellectual gems I hope to attract further attention to the immense richness of Han Feizi as one of the most sophisticated products of China’s political thought.

scholarly journals Crossbows and imperial craft organisation: the bronze triggers of China's Terracotta Army

Antiquity ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 88 (339) ◽  
pp. 126-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuzhen Janice Li ◽  
Andrew Bevan ◽  
Marcos Martinón-Torres ◽  
Thilo Rehren ◽  
Wei Cao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Analysis ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Craft Production ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Administrative Control ◽  
The Third ◽  
Trigger Mechanisms ◽  
Qin Shihuang

The Terracotta Army that protected the tomb of the Chinese emperor Qin Shihuang offers an evocative image of the power and organisation of the Qin armies who unified China through conquest in the third century BC. It also provides evidence for the craft production and administrative control that underpinned the Qin state. Bronze trigger mechanisms are all that remain of crossbows that once equipped certain kinds of warrior in the Terracotta Army. A metrical and spatial analysis of these triggers reveals that they were produced in batches and that these separate batches were thereafter possibly stored in an arsenal, but eventually were transported to the mausoleum to equip groups of terracotta crossbowmen in individual sectors of Pit 1. The trigger evidence for large-scale and highly organised production parallels that also documented for the manufacture of the bronze-tipped arrows and proposed for the terracotta figures themselves.

Han Feizi (c.280–233 BC)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leo S. Chang
Keyword(s):  
Warring States Period ◽  
Warring States ◽  
Han Feizi ◽  
Civil Order ◽  
Inter State

Han Feizi was the pre-eminent Legalist philosopher. The work attributed to him, the Han Feizi, is his conscious response to the general breakdown of civil order and the interminable inter-state struggle for survival and conquest during the Warring States period (463–222 bc). However, Han Feizi’s work transcends the particular circumstances that gave rise to it and addresses perennial philosophical issues that continue to remain relevant.

Han Feizi

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Eirik Harris
Keyword(s):  
Han Feizi
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