CHINESE PHILOSOPHY

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CHINESE PHILOSOPHY
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PRE-HISTORICCHINA
Neolithic 12,000-2000 bce Yangshao Culture
5000-2500 bce Hongshan Culture 4700- 2900 bce
Lung-shan Culture 2500-1000 bce Xia Dynasty
21st 16th c. bce
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ANCIENT CHINA
Earliest Dynasties Xia Dynasty 21st-16th c.
bce Shang Dynasty 16th-11th c. bcefirst
writing Zhou Dynasty1027 bc-221
bc Confucianism Taoism
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Shang Dynasty16th-11th c. bce
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Shang Dynasty

• Central Yellow River Valley
• Oldest examples of Chinese writing
• Hunters and farmers
• Brilliant bronze culture
• Cities
• Cheng Chow (16th c. bc)
• Anyang (C. 1384-1111 bc)

Ornament of the late Shang, 7 cm The figurine
shows the costume and headdress usually worn by
people in the Shang Dynasty
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Shang Social Organization

• City-states under the nominal rule of a high king
• Proto-feudalism.
• The area under the jurisdiction of the king quite
  probably was small, perhaps not more than 100-200
  miles in any direction from Anyang.
• Traces of a family ruling system and of
  ancestor-worship are discernible.
• Rigidly patriarchal society.

Shang Tang - the first ruling king of the Shang
dynasty
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Oracle Bones

• Oracle bones used for divination.
• A question was written on the bone, which was
  then fired and a T shaped crack was produced to
  be interpreted the interpretation was then
  written on the bone.
• After the predicted event occurred, the date of
  the occurrence was also written on the bone.

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Astronomy and Calendar
Ox bone inscribed with a table of the Heavenly
Stems and Earthly Branches

• Oracle bone with record of solar eclipse

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ZHOU (CHOU) DYNASTY 1027 bce-221 bce
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Periods of Zhou Dynasty

• 771 bce -- Zhou invaded by barbarians allied
  with rebel lords king killed. Capital moved
  eastward to Luoyang in Henan Province
• Western Zhou 1027-771 bce
• Eastern Zhou 770-221 bce
• 770-476 bce Spring and Autumn Period
• 475-221 bce Warring States Period

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Zhou (Chou) Dynasty

• Introduced organized agriculture
• Feudal society
• Land grants in return for support in war and
  loyalty
• Ruler Tian or Son of Heaven
• Principal of societal relationships illustrated
  in the Book of Songs and the Book of Rituals
• Confucianism and Taoism introduced

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Lao Tzu or Lao ZiOld Sage or Old Master

• Born c. 604 bce
• Reputed Author of Tao te Ching or Taodejing The
  Way and Its Power
• Legendary life
• His given name was Li Erh
• Lao Tzu means "old sage or "old boy
• Native of Ch'ü-jen, in the Honan Province.

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Taoist Canon

• Tao Te Ching (Dao De Jing ) Written supposedly
  by Lao Tzu (81 chapters often divided into two
  parts)
• Book of Dao Chapter 1-37
• Book of De Chapter 38-81
• Chuang Chou (Chuang Tzu or ZhuangZi ) Written
  supposedly by Chuang Chou (inner chapters) and
  others (misc and outer chapters)
• Hua Hu Jing Unknown author (81 chapters)
• Lie Zi Written supposedly by Lie Zi (111
  chapters)

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TAOISM

• Tao the ultimate reality behind existence, a
  transcendant essence.
• Highly individualistic and mystical character
• Existential skepticism
• Wu-wei spontaneity -- to discern and follow the
  natural forces -- to follow and shape the natural
  flow of events, not to struggle against nature

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Yin and Yang

• Negative and positive principles of the
  universe.
• One cannot exist without the other, and they
  often represent opposites in relations to each
  other.
• As there is more and more Yang, eventually, Yin
  will appear and replace this increase. Similarly
  in the opposite direction, Yang will appear to
  replace the increase in Yin

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YIN YANG

• Negative
• Female
• Dark
• Earth

• Positive
• Male
• Light
• Heaven

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Three Jewels

• Compassion - leads to courage
• Moderation - leads to generosity
• Humility - leads to leadership

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ConfuciusKung fu-tzu or Kongfuzi

• 551-479 bce
• Son of aristocrat, raised in poverty
• Itinerant teacher
• Sayings collected in The Analects
• Possibly edited The Book of Songs

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Confucian Canon of Texts

• The Book of Songs
• The Book of Documents (Shang Shu)
• The Book of Changes ( I Ching)
• The Book of Rituals
• Chun-ch iu a chronicle
• The Analects
• By study and self-cultivation, individuals can
  merge their instinctive beings and their social
  beings.

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Followers of Confucius
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Confucianism

• Importance of traditional values self-control,
  filial piety, propriety, ritual
• Individual virtue leads to societal virtue
• Contextual morality -- guided by circumstances
  of a particular problem
• Obedience contingent upon benevolence

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Confucian Values

• Li propriety, ceremony, civility. 4 basic rules
  of human conduct courtesy, politeness, good
  manners, respect (reverence for age)
• Jen (Ren) respect for self and othersDo not do
  to others what you do not want done to you.
  Charity and courtesy
• Te virtue, the power of moral example as in a
  strong leader who guides by example or in the
  forces of nature
• Wen the arts of peace music, poetry, art --
  conducive to harmony and order and a model of
  excellence. Traditional Chinese art always
  strives for beauty.

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The Six Relationships
Obedience in The Six Relationships is contingent
upon the superior members observing their duty to
be benevolent and caring. The relationships are
modeled on the loving relationship between parent
and child.
Older Friend
Ruler
Teacher
Subject
Student
YoungerFriend
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The Mandate of Heaven

• The moral order of the Universe right and wrong
• Fate Life and death are beyond our control.
• The right to rule is based upon knowing and
  observing the moral order of the Universe
• The judgement of history losing the Mandate of
  Heaven results in loss of power.

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Taoist Response to Confucianism
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Chuang Chou (Chuang Tzu or ZhuangZi )

• Ca. 369-286 bce
• The Way has nothing to do with the rights and
  wrongs associated with traditions such as
  Confucianism

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"Once I, Chuang Tzu, dreamed that I was a
butterfly. Suddenly I awoke, and there I was,
visibly Tzu. I do not know whether it was Tzu
dreaming that he was a butterfly or the butterfly
dreaming it was Tzu, Between Tzu and the
butterfly there must be some distinction. But
one may be the other. This is called the
transformation of things."