A
Daoist Theory of Chinese Thought: A Philosophical Interpretation, New York, Oxford
University Press, 1992. pp. xv-448
Sinologists
usually present Chinese thought as philosophy for non-philosophers. They
present Daoism (Taoism) as a paradigm. I agree that Daoism is a paradigm, but
proceed on the hypothesis that it is serious philosophy. My view of Daoism
obviously differs from the tradition. I treat Daoism as a skeptical,
reflective, and philosophically mature critique of the ethical dispute between
Confucianism and Mohism. The famous paradoxes serve to motivate doubt and
further reflection; they do not signal a devotion to mystical or anti-rational
nonsense. I proceed on the hypothesis that most of the familiar central
thinkers asked serious, genuine questions and sought sound answers. The questions,
however, were different as were the background assumptions that influenced
their assessment of the answers.
Since
Graham's monumental study of the Later Mohists[1], most
scholars now allow that some Chinese thinkers thought in ways that we
would now call "philosophical." Still, they bifurcate the tradition
and maintain that the mainstream traditional thinkers, particularly the
Daoists, had a radically different way of thinking. The two strands of Classical
thought never touched. I disagree and attempt to produce a unified interpretive
theory which integrates philosophy of language in the social-political dialogue
of the period. I argue here that the alleged uniquely Chinese way of thinking
is an artifact of naive interpretation and uncritical parroting of a
traditional Confucian credo. Two millennia of Confucian and other religious
reading have buried the philosophical integrity of Laozi and Zhuangzi under
piles of dogma.
I
divide the period into four phases, three represent a dialectal growth of
philosophical insight. The fourth invites its decline and eventual destruction
under political repression. The detailed table of contents comes in two
sections.
Acknowledgements
An Introduction with Work to Do
The Context of Chinese Philosophy:
Language and Theory of Language
Part I: The
Positive Dao Period
Confucius:
The Baseline
Mozi: Setting the
Philosophical Agenda
Part 2: The
Antilanguage Period
Mencius: The
Establishment Strikes Back
Laozi: Language
and Society
Part Three:
Analysis and Skepticism
The Schools of Names: Linguisic Analysis in China
Zhuang-zi:
Discriminating about Discriminating
Part Four: The
Authoritarian Response
Hanfei-zi:
Legalist Synthesis
A Daoist Theory of Chinese
Thought: A Philosophical Interpretation, New York, Oxford University
Press, 1992. pp. xv-448
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements
An Introduction with Work to Do
The New Perspective and Philosophical Progress
The Ruling Interpretive Theory
The translation paradigm
The Fragmented-Schools View
The Meaning Change Hypothesis Indo-European Theory of
Language and Mind
The Philosophical Worth of Chinese Thought
The Rehabilitation of Daoism
Summary
The Context of Chinese Philosophy:
Language and Theory of Language
Geographical Setting
Pre-Historic Influences Language
Geographical Setting
The Social Context: Some Conclusions
Part I: The Positive
Dao Period
Confucius: The
Baseline
The Confucian Analects: Some Preliminary Hypotheses The Well Ordered Society Theory
of Human Nature The Confucian Conceptual Scheme: Dao Ren and Confucian Theory of Language
Miscellaneous Other Topics
Mozi: Setting the Philosophical Agenda
Rehabilitation
Life of Mozi
Crafts and Guiding, Objective Standards
The Process of Enculturation
The Attack on Traditionalism
The Utilitarian Standard
The Conceptual Structure of Mozi's Utilitarianism
The Role of the Natural Urge
Morality: Motivation and Justification
Universal Love in Interpersonal Relations
The Doctrine of Agreement with the Superior
Miscellaneous Consequences of Utilitarianism
Reason and Right in the Mozi
Pragmatics v. Semantics
Mozi's Theory of Language
The Three Standards of Language
Part Two: The Antilanguage Period
Mencius: The
Establishment Strikes Back
Background: The Double Challenge to Confucianism
Mencius' Philosophical Calling
Mencius' Theory of Moral Psychology
Reflections on Mencius' Moral Psychology
Mencius' Attitude Toward Language and the Heart-mind
Mencius' Lasting Influence
Laozi: Language and
Society
Theoretical Interpretation
The Text of the Daode Jing
Historical Background of Daoism
Laozi: Non-Life and Tradition
The First Chapter:The Interpretation
Reversal of opposites in the Daode Jing
Part Three:
Analysis and Skepticism
The Schools of Names: Linguisic
Analysis in China
The Neo-Mohist Text: Importance and Problems
The Realist Move
Strings and Reference: Extending the System
Ethics and Realist Language
Neo-Mohist epistemology
Neo-Mohist Logic
Gongsun Long: The Defense of Confucian Language
Hui Shi's Paradoxes The World is One
Summary: The School of Names
Zhuang-zi:
Discriminating about Discriminating
An Interpretive Manifesto
Zhuangzi's Place in the Pre-Han Dialogue
Zhuangzi: Textual and Historical Issues
Language and its Adequacy
The Refutation of Mencius
The Refutation of the Neo-Mohists
The Refutation of Absolute Monism (Primitive Daoism)
Dreaming and Skepticism in Zhuangzi
Science and the Division of Fact and Value
Practical Advice
Part Four: The
Authoritarian Response
Xunzi: Pragmatic
Confucianism
The Interpretive Dilemma
Xunzi's Intellectual Influences
Outline of Xunzi's Thought
New Rectifying Names
Is Human Nature Evil?
Philosophy of Heart Mind
Hanfei-zi:
Legalist Synthesis
Han Feizi's Life and the Ruling Image
Confucian Rule of Man and Western Rule of Law
Historical Survey of Statecraft in China
Language and the Danger of Interpretive Anarchy
Authoritarian Taoism
The Aftermath
Indo-European Theory
of Language and Mind
1.
The Computer
Analogy
2.
The Computer
Analogy and Human Dignity
3.
Mentalese and
Conventional Language
4.
The Theory of
Ideas and Chinese Language
Language
1.
Pictographs
and Ideographs
2.
Meaning,
Translation and the Mental
3.
Emotionless
Tone
4.
Ordered
Grammar
5.
Building
Blocks of Language
6.
Structure and
Interpretation
7.
Mass Terms and
Scope Metaphysics
8.
Scope and
Grammatical Categories
9.
Scope and
Ontological Relativity
10. The Regulative Role of Language
11. Language and Psychology
The
Well-Ordered Society
1.
The
Educational Hierarchy
2.
The Role of
Rulers
3.
Confucian
opposition to Law and Punishment
4.
Rectifying
Names
Theory of
Human Nature
1.
Injecting
Human Nature
2.
The Importance
of Modeling
3.
The Role of
Intuition
4.
Language: A
Paradigm
5.
Confucian
Conventionalism and Western Folk Psychology
6.
Applied
Psychology of Education
7.
Human Nature
and the Role of Ren
8.
Morality and
Human Nature
The Confucian
Conceptual Scheme: Dao
1.
Dao and Metaphysics
2.
Literature: Li, Music, and Poetry
Ren and Confucian
Theory of Language
1.
Innatism and
the Unspoken Dao
2.
Philosophy and
Code Skepticism
Rehabilitation
1.
The Effect of
Confucian Ideology on Translation
2.
Style Slander
The Process of
Enculturation
1.
Cultivation,
Character and the Heart-mind
2.
Models of Dao
The
Utilitarian Standard
The Paradox of Moral Reform
Varieties of Constancy
Inheritance Constancy
Projection Constancy
Pragmatic Constancy
The Self-Defeating Nature of a Dao of Partiality
Might Mozi's Dao be
self-effacing?
The Natural or Heavenly Dao
The Conceptual
Structure of Mozi's Utilitarianism
Guidance by Name-Pairs
The Malleability of Human
Moral Character
Spirits and Fate
The Doctrine of
Agreement with the Superior
1.
Comparison to
Hobbes
2.
Comparison to
Confucius
Miscellaneous
Consequences of Utilitarianism
1.
The Opposition
to Music
2.
The Opposition
to Aggressive War
3.
Criticism of
Confucius
Pragmatics versus Semantics
Euclidean Rationality and Duty Ethics
The Euclidean Model
The Euclidean Model in
Practical Reasoning--The Practical Syllogism.
The Three Standards of
Language
The Social Character of Language
Operational Test of Knowledge of Words and Distinctions
The Unity of Mozi and Confucius
Mencius' Theory of Moral
Psychology
1.
Borrowing
Yang-zhu's Naturalism
2.
The Heart-mind
3.
The Four Fonts
Reflections on
Mencius' Moral Psychology
1.
Problems with
Heart-mind Theory
2.
Cultivating
the Heart-mind: The Plant Analogy
3.
The
Justification of Intuitionism
Mencius' Attitude Toward
Language and the Heart-mind
Logic, Language and Analogy in The Mencius
Historical Background of
Daoism
Shendao and the Beginning of Daoist Theory
1.
Dao as a
Philosophical Topic
2.
The
Meaning-Change Hypothesis
3.
The Rejection
of Egoism
4.
The Paradox of
Primitive Daoism
Laozi: Non-Life and
Tradition
Basic Interpretive Hypothesis: Shendao and Language Analysis
1.
Distinctions
and Opposite Names
2.
Distinctions
and Desires
3.
Wei and Wu-wei
The First Chapter:The
Interpretation
The Single Ineffable Dao
The Inconstancy of Prescription in Language
The Paradox of the Terms Being and Non Being
Reversal of opposites in
the Daode Jing
Negative Discourse, Negative Know how
Scheming Political Methods
Opposition to use of the Senses
The Neo-Mohist Text:
Importance and Problems
The Centrality of Bian
The Realist Move
1.
The Paradox of
Relativism
2.
The Pragmatic
Focus
Strings and Reference:
Extending the System
The Analysis: What Phrases are Assertable of
Others?
Ethics and Realist
Language
Rectifying Intensional Phrases
Killing Thieves is not
Killing Men
Defense of Universal Love
Neo-Mohist epistemology
Know (How) To
Neo-Mohist Logic
Neo-Mohist Semantics and Chinese Logic
Gongsun Long: The Defense of
Confucian Language
1.
The White
Horse Paradox
2.
The Dialogue
on Pointing to Things
Language and its
Adequacy
Knowledge and Language
The Refutation of the
Neo-Mohists
Language and Indexicality
Science and the Division
of Fact and Value
Evaluation and Reason
Outline of Xunzi's
Thought
1.
Naturalism
2.
The Chain of
Life
3.
Language and
Morality
New Rectifying Names
Xunzi's Definitions
Political Control of the Use of Names
Convention and Pragmatic Utility
The Creation of New Names
The Theory of Naming
The Reason for Having Names
The Basis for Distinctions
of Similar-Different.
The Basic Requirements of Regulating Names
Pragmatic Treatment of the Paradoxes
Using theory of naming to
confuse naming
Using Perspectives on
Reality to Confuse Names
Using Theory of Naming to
Confuse Reality
Is Human Nature Evil?
1.
Dao and Desires
2.
The Textual
Problem
Han Feizi's Life and the
Ruling Image
Fa:
Problems about Meaning
The Historical Theory of
Meaning
The Distinction of Meaning
and Reference
Coherence of Nominal and
Verbal Usage
Meaning Gaps and Meaning
Efficiency
Fa
(objective standards) and Elite
Intuition
Confucian Rule of Man and
Western Rule of Law
1.
The Confucian
Argument Against Punishment
2.
The Confucian
Argument Against Publicly Accessible Daos
3.
The Liberal
Western argument for Rule of Law
Language and the
Danger of Interpretive Anarchy
1.
Shi: Situation authority
2.
Shu: Methods to Control the State Apparatus
3.
Fa: Public, Measurable Standards.