Sagehood: The Contemporary Significance of Neo-Confucian Philosophy

355 Pages·2009·2.66 MB·English

by  Stephen C. Angle

Title Pages
University Press Scholarship Online
Oxford Scholarship Online
Sagehood: The Contemporary Significance of Neo-
Confucian Philosophy
Stephen C. Angle
Print publication date: 2010
Print ISBN-13: 9780195385144
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: February 2010
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195385144.001.0001
Title Pages
Sagehood Sagehood Sagehood
(p.iv)
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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data
Angle, Stephen C., 1964–
Sagehood: the contemporary significance of neo‐Confucian
philosophy/Stephen C. Angle.
 p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 978‐0‐19‐538514‐4
1. Neo‐Confucianism. I. Title.
B127.N4A54 2009
181′.112—dc22 2008055135
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid‐free paper
Dedication
University Press Scholarship Online
Oxford Scholarship Online
Sagehood: The Contemporary Significance of Neo-
Confucian Philosophy
Stephen C. Angle
Print publication date: 2010
Print ISBN-13: 9780195385144
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: February 2010
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195385144.001.0001
Dedication
(p.v) For Professors Jonathan Spence,
Yu Ying‐shih,
and
Donald Munro (p.vi)
Acknowledgments
University Press Scholarship Online
Oxford Scholarship Online
Sagehood: The Contemporary Significance of Neo-
Confucian Philosophy
Stephen C. Angle
Print publication date: 2010
Print ISBN-13: 9780195385144
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: February 2010
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195385144.001.0001
(p.vii) Acknowledgments
In writing this book, I have received help from many sources without which it could
never have come to fruition. To begin with, the love of my family is wonderfully sustaining.
Debbie, Samantha, and Rachel make every day a treat, as do my parents, in‐laws, siblings,
and cousins. Thanks so much to all of you. In addition, I gratefully acknowledge support
from Wesleyan University's Center for the Humanities for a resident Fellowship; the
Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation for a Millicent C. McIntosh Fellowship;
the Mellon Foundation for a Semester Research Leave; and the U.S. Department of State
for a Fulbright Research Fellowship. The staff and resources at Wesleyan's Olin Library
(especially the China Academic Journal Database and the exemplary work by those in the
Inter‐Library Loan Department) connected me to research on my subject from around
the world. The Philosophy Department at Peking University proved a hospitable place
during my year in Beijing; thanks, in particular, to Zhao Dunhua, Zhang Xianglong, Zhang
Xuezhi, Hu Jun, Xu Xiangdong, Chen Liang, and Ye Chuang. I am also grateful to
Springer Publishers for permission to use material in chapters 6 and 7 that was
previously published in Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy. At Oxford University
Press, I appreciate the support of Peter Ohlin and the expert work of Molly Wagener,
Linda Donnelly, and Joseph Albert Andre.
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Acknowledgments
A variety of audiences have heard and discussed different parts of this evolving project
at conferences and lectures over the last several years. My thanks for all the stimulus
and concrete suggestion from students and colleagues at: Bard College, Beijing Language
and Culture University, Beijing Normal University, Capital Normal University (Beijing),
the Center for Chinese Studies at the University (p.viii) of California at Berkeley, Cheng‐
chih University (Taipei), the Chinese University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong
Kong, East China Normal University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology,
Huafan University (Taipei), Lingnan University (Hong Kong), Qinghua University
(Beijing), Renmin University (Beijing), Rutgers University, Soochow University (Taipei),
the University of Oregon, the University of Utah, Wesleyan University, and Wuhan
University.
Many of my colleagues at Wesleyan have read and commented on one or another part of
the manuscript; I am especially indebted to Brian Fay, who read and commented on the
entire draft. In fact I have had fruitful conversations about many of these ideas with
everyone in the Philosophy Department. I am lucky to be among such a distinguished
group of philosophers—not to mention, a group that is very open to the idea of taking
Neo‐Confucianism seriously as philosophy. Colleagues in East Asian Studies have also
helped in many ways; thanks, especially, to Vera Schwarcz and Mary Alice Haddad. Many
colleagues at other institutions have also read and responded to different aspects of the
book. Michael Slote was extremely generous with comments and constructive criticism.
In addition, I would like to thank Daniel Bell, John Berthrong, Joseph Chan, Ci Jiwei,
Howard Curzer, Steven Geisz, Huang Yong, Joe Horroff, Manyul Im, Leigh Jenco, Kai
Marchal, Randy Peerenboom, Peng Guoxiang, Kwong‐loi Shun, May Sim, Aaron Stalnaker,
Justin Tiwald, Bryan Van Norden, and Xiao Yang.
A few interlocutors require more detailed comment. First are the two anonymous
readers for Oxford University Press. Their scrupulous, constructive, yet challenging
readings of the manuscript have helped in many places. Next is my mother, Lisa King,
who read the entire manuscript and offered wonderful comments from the perspective
that academic authors like myself always say we are trying to reach, namely the
educated, nonspecialist reader. The book is much better for her care and commitment.
Another key role was played by Thomas Metzger, one of the most learned and
challenging individuals I know. Tom's comments in a conversation some years ago
required that I write the last two chapters of the present work, and engagement with him
in recent years has been extremely rewarding. Next is P.J. Ivanhoe. P.J. is legendary for
his devotion to his students, and he has done me the enormous service of giving me—
who was never his student, and with whom he disagrees on some important topics in this
book—much the same treatment as he gives his own students. The book is better, and
better balanced, as a result of his attentions.
The painting that graces the book's cover is “In the White Mountains” by Charles Chu.
Charles was an extraordinary gentleman who lived, taught, and painted for many years in
Connecticut. His vision of New England through the lenses of the Chinese artistic
tradition is a beautiful symbol of this book's goal of putting different traditions into
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Acknowledgments
dialogue. I had a chance to meet both Charles and his marvelous wife (p.ix) Betty,
though they have now passed away within months of one another. I am grateful to them,
and to their families, for their willingness to allow me to use “In the White Mountains.”
Finally, I would like to thank—and dedicate the book to—an inspiring trio of senior
scholars who were my first teachers of Chinese history and philosophy. Jonathan Spence
at Yale fired my imagination. Also at Yale, Ying‐shih Yu introduced me to Neo‐
Confucianism through both his lectures and his own prodigious learning. Finally, in
graduate school at Michigan, Donald Munro embodied what a teacher and mentor should
be: supporting, challenging, and yet always allowing me to find my own way. The earliest
beginnings of this book lie in a seminar paper written for Don. My humble gratitude to all
three of these exemplary scholars. (p.x)
Chronology and Dramatis Personae
University Press Scholarship Online
Oxford Scholarship Online
Sagehood: The Contemporary Significance of Neo-
Confucian Philosophy
Stephen C. Angle
Print publication date: 2010
Print ISBN-13: 9780195385144
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: February 2010
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195385144.001.0001
(p.xv) Chronology and Dramatis Personae
Classical Figures and Texts
Confucius (d.479 BCE). Associated with the Analects; founder of the tradition.
Mencius (4th c. BCE). Associated with the Mencius; develops Confucian
teachings.
Xunzi (3rd c. BCE). The third great Confucian, associated with the Xunzi.
Early Neo‐Confucians (Song dynasty, 960–1279; Yuan dynasty, 1279–1368)
Zhou Dunyi (1017–73). Best‐known for his concept of “supreme polarity
(taiji).”
Zhang Zai (1020–77). Develops sophisticated cosmological theory centering
on qi. Author of the moral manifesto “The Western Inscription.”
Cheng Hao (1032–85). Older brother of Cheng Yi; stressed the centrality of
“humaneness (ren).”
Cheng Yi (1033–1107). Cheng Hao's younger brother; most famous for
emphasis on “coherence (li)” and “reverence (jing).”
Zhu Xi (1130–1200). Great synthesizer of Neo‐Confucianism; drew on all of
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Chronology and Dramatis Personae
the above.
Later Neo‐Confucians (Ming dynasty, 1368–1644; Qing dynasty, 1644–1911)
Wang Yangming (1472–1529). Most influential Neo‐Confucian of the Ming
dynasty. Famous for ideas of “the unity of knowledge and action” and “innate
good knowing (liang zhi).”
Luo Qinshun (1465–1547). Sophisticated thinker who sought to critically
develop Zhu Xi's ideas.
(p.xvi)
Huang Zongxi (1610–95). Most famous as political thinker (author of Waiting
for the Dawn) and intellectual historian.
Dai Zhen (1723–77). Giant of Qing dynasty philosophy and scholarship; highly
critical of Song and Ming Neo‐Confucians.
Twentieth‐Century Figures (Republic of China, 1912–; People's Republic of
China, 1949–)
Liang Shuming (1893–1988). Influenced by both Buddhism and Confucianism,
sought to develop distinctively Chinese ideas so as to be relevant to the
modern world.
Xu Fuguan (1902–82). “New Confucian” historian and philosopher.
Mou Zongsan (1909–95). Leading “New Confucian” philosopher; well‐known
for his thesis that morality must undergo “self‐negation (ziwo kanxian)” in
order to realize its ends—and to be compatible with democratic politics.
Introduction
University Press Scholarship Online
Oxford Scholarship Online
Sagehood: The Contemporary Significance of Neo-
Confucian Philosophy
Stephen C. Angle
Print publication date: 2010
Print ISBN-13: 9780195385144
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: February 2010
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195385144.001.0001
Introduction
Stephen C. Angle (Contributor Webpage)
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195385144.003.0001
Abstract and Keywords
The introduction addresses two methodological preliminaries: the book's approach to
comparative philosophy, called “rooted global philosophy”; and the scope of the “Neo-
Confucian” tradition—in particular, why the book draws simultaneously on two thinkers
often thought of as great rivals, Zhu Xi (1130–1200) and Wang Yangming (1472–1529).
Rooted global philosophy means to creatively develop a particular philosophical tradition
in open dialogue with other traditions from around the globe. The roots of the book's
project are in Neo-Confucianism, and careful, contextualized, historical understandings of
that tradition are critical to the book. But the book's project is to treat Neo-Confucianism
as a live tradition and to develop these ideas in dialogue with contemporary thinkers. With
regard to the scope of “Neo-Confucianism,” the book considers a variety of
controversies about how to define the limits of Neo-Confucianism and about the relations
between Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming, but argues that its open stance is justified by
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