A History of Chinese Thought (3 Volumes) ((3 Volumes))

Author: Ge Zhaoguang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: Introduction: The Writing of Intellectual History
The Introduction, originally placed separately before Volume I and Volume II as "The Writing of Intellectual History" and "Continuation of the Writing of Intellectual History," was intended to explain the research perspective, selection of materials, and writing approach. For the reprinted edition, they are combined into one volume and《：》。 The title "The Writing of Intellectual History" does not imply that only one writing strategy is discussed here. Behind different writing styles of intellectual history are always different concepts, thoughts, and methods. Changes in writing often signify changes in the concepts, thoughts, and methods of intellectual history research. This discussion addresses major theoretical and methodological issues in the study of Chinese intellectual history and philosophy, such as how intellectual history should address the thought world of elites and classics versus the general knowledge, thought, and belief world; how knowledge history and intellectual history should mutually illuminate each other; what the ultimate basis or fundamental assumptions of ancient Chinese thought are; how intellectual history should reform past traditional writing methods and the didactic textbook-style chapter structures to pursue the true threads and spirit of intellectual history; whether intellectual history should describe the so-called "thoughtless" era and see the unseen; how traditional knowledge and thought, as historical memory, can become new intellectual resources through reinterpretation, thereby creating continuity in intellectual history; and how archaeological findings and cultural relics should be viewed and utilized in intellectual history research. Finally, the Introduction also discusses how to understand and limit the significance and boundaries of postmodern historical theory as it gradually enters China.
Volume I: Knowledge, Thought, and Belief World in China Before the 7th Century
This volume adopts a personal observational perspective and understanding to historically research and describe the history of knowledge, thought, and belief in ancient China up to the 7th century. This book not only concerns the development of elite and classic thought in ancient China but also analyzes the knowledge sources and ultimate foundations that shaped and established these thoughts. It not only describes the profound intellectual currents of ancient China before the 7th century but also portrays the historical context of general knowledge, thought, and belief that nurtured these ideas. This volume shifts away from the human-centered chapter structure of traditional textbook-style intellectual history, drawing on rich ancient literature and referencing modern Chinese and foreign research achievements to clarify and narrate the knowledge, thought, and belief world of Chinese people from ancient times to the 7th century and its continuous historical development. The aim is to understand and explain how the modern Chinese intellectual tradition has gradually been constructed from ancient times to the present.
Volume II: Knowledge, Thought, and Belief World in China from the 7th to the 19th Century
This volume primarily discusses the process of the ultimate establishment and gradual disintegration of China's intellectual world from the 7th to the 19th century. In fact, the so-called ancient Chinese knowledge, thought, and belief tradition often mentioned and felt by modern Chinese should not be understood as the ancient Chinese thought established during the Qin and Han dynasties but rather as a new tradition gradually constructed over a long period during the Tang and Song dynasties. After the social upheavals of the 8th century, the once unified and mediocre knowledge, thought, and belief world adjusted its approach and rediscovered historical resources. Centered around the reconstruction of state authority and intellectual order, people drew on old learning to generate new insights, proposing various questions and ultimately seeking renewal within tradition. By the Song dynasty, a new knowledge, thought, and belief world emerged, represented by "Neo-Confucianism" (Lixue) and "Mind School" (Xinxue). After a brief historical separation between the "orthodoxy of thought" (daotong) and the "orthodoxy of politics" (zhengtong)—that is, cultural power and political discourse power—around the 13th century, China established a new national political ideology. Due to the institutionalization and secularization of this concept, ancient Chinese ethics achieved a degree of unity during that era. However, over the Yuan and Ming dynasties, as 16th-century China gradually moved from the "center of the world" (tianxia) tributary system into an era of "multiple nations," this knowledge, thought, and belief world began to show deep fissures. Although the Ming-Qing transition temporarily papered over these fissures, temporarily restoring a unified intellectual identity at the public and political discourse levels, the split between the public and private spheres had already become irreparable. Under the pressure and allure of powerful foreign ships and cannons, this tradition ultimately began to disintegrate. Especially after China's defeat by Japan in 1895, driven by a sense of indignation and humiliation, China began to pursue strength in the Western style, embarking on an irreversible path of Westernization. This triggered the intellectual turmoil of modern China.