Ru school of chinese thought

Chinese Philosophy

Midterm Examination PH203 Chinese Philosophy Emerson College, Spring 2017 Eric Michael Dale, PhD

Please READ THESE DIRECTIONS This exam is due in class Monday 13 March 2017. I will be checking Google, the textbooks, Wikipedia, About.com, SparkNotes, etc. If your answers seem to be copied from some other source, you will fail the exam, and likely the course. Below are two groups of questions. Pick one question from each group and write approx. 1000 words on each question. You may write more, but not less. When you quote or cite, do so clearly and consistently.

Use whatever citation style with which you are most comfortable. I do not need a separate bibliography. I do not need a plastic report cover, title page, etc.

Remember, two essays total. ****************************************************************************************** Group One: 1. Is Confucianism identical to the ru tradition? How did Kongzi transform the ru tradition into a distinctive school of thought? How is this related to Kongzi’s claim “I transmit rather than innovate” (Analects 7:1)? 2. How should we understand the importance of heaven/tian for the Confucian view of the world, society, and human destiny? In what ways does this resemble the Shang-era notion of tian? How has it changed? 3. Yao writes, “the self is endowed with a transcendent ‘spirit’ which if fully developed would enable one to be a co-ordinator of the world, a guardian of natural and social processes, and a partner in the creative transformation of Heaven and Earth” (p.153). This is the essence of the Confucian ideal of the junzi. Explore and explain the junzi ideal, and how this Way of Humans relates to the Way of Heaven. 4. Harmony/he is the thread that runs through classical Chinese thought. Discuss the way in which the harmony of filial piety/xiao exemplifies and reflects the harmony of Heaven and Earth. Are the social/familial bonds between people different than the natural/cosmic bonds that tie us to Heaven and Earth? 5. Explain what is being discussed/debated in Analects 2:12, 9:2, 9:6, 14:38, and 19:7. 6. Kongzi says, “If for one day you could master yourself and return to the rites/li, you could lead everything under Heaven back to ren” (Analects 12:1). For him, the key to li is found in the Book of Rites/Liji. I have provided excerpts from the Liji on Canvas. Read them and discuss what in them seems to demonstrate their importance for Kongzi. 7. Kongzi says, “The Odes number several hundred, and yet they can be judged with a single phrase: ‘Oh, they will not lead you astray’” (Analects 2:2). It is difficult to over-estimate the importance of the Classic of Poetry/Shijing for Kongzi. I have provided excerpts from the Shijing on Canvas. Read them and discuss what in them seems to demonstrate their importance for Kongzi.

8. Read “The Case of Guanzhong” on Canvas and assess his character from a Confucian point of view. Is he li? Is he ren? What do Kongzi’s disciples think? What does Kongzi think? What do you make of all this? 9. Discuss the importance of cultural refinement/wen in the Analects. Group Two: 1. Trace the concept of the Dao through the Daodejing. What is Dao? 2. Trace the ideas of balance and opposites through the Daodejing. Does the text seem to privilege one way of being over another? 3. Discuss the use of nature images and metaphors in the Daodejing. Provide examples and explain them. 4. Explain what the Daodejing means by non-action/wu wei. Provide examples and explain them. 5. The Daodejing, like Analects, is a text that engages with the society around it and tries to shape and mold it. Explore and discuss the political aspects of the Daodejing (the second half, 38-81, is particularly useful here). 6. Compare and contrast the idea of the junzi in the Analects with the sage/shengren in the Daodejing. 7. Compare and discuss Daodejing 49 (善者, 吾善之, 不善者, 吾亦善之, “to good people I am good; to people who are not good I am also good”), 63 (報怨以德,“repay hatred with virtue/de”), and Analects 14:34 (以直報怨, 以德報德, “repay hatred with fairness, replay de with de”). Ivanhoe’s footnote is worth noting, but even if this was a traditional saying, the form in which we have the Analects is certainly framed as contra-Daoist, so discuss it in this context. This is a debate; enter into it. 8. Daodejing enters into direct debate with the Rujia concerning important terms and how they are to be lived. For example, 天地不仁, ‘Heaven and Earth are not ren’ (Daodejing 5), and 故失道而後德, 失德而後仁, 失仁 而後義, 失義而後禮, ‘When Dao is lost, virtue/de appears; when de is lost, ren appears; when ren is lost, justice/righteousness/yi appears; when yi is lost, ritual propriety/li appears” (Daodejing 38). In other words, dao is the best, and from there it is a sliding slope down to li, presumably the worst. Discuss these passages (or others), explaining what issues are at stake and why the Daodejing takes the stance that it does.