Critique, Subversion, and Chinese Philosophy: Sociopolitical, Conceptual, and Methodological Challenges

Description

Bringing together a number of case studies, this book shows how from early on Chinese philosophical discourses unfolded through innovation and the subversion of dominant forms of thinking. Narrowing in on the commonplace Chinese motto that “the three teachings” of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism “are joined into one”, as if there had never been any substantial differences between or within these schools of thought, a team of esteemed contributors challenge established views. They explain how the Daoist tradition provided a variety of alternatives to prevailing Confucian master narratives, reveal why the long history of Confucianism is itself full of ambiguities, disputes, and competing ideas and discuss how in Buddhist theory and practice, the subversion of unquestioned beliefs and attitudes has been a prime methodological and therapeutic device. By drawing attention to unorthodox voices and subversion as a method, this exciting collection reveals that for too long the traditional division into “three teachings” has failed to do justice to the diversity and subtlety found in the numerous discourses constituting the history of Chinese philosophy. Critique, Subversion and Chinese Philosophy finally makes such innovative disruptions visible. Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Contents 1 Introduction: Conflict, Contradiction, Reconciliation: (Dis-)harmonious Critique in Chinese Philosophies Part One Critique as Method 2 Pedagogical Self-Subversion and Critical Becoming in Early Confucian Philosophy (Geir Sigurðsson) 3 Crisis and Critique: Zhuangzi’s Philosophical Turning Point (Hans-Georg Moeller and Paul J. D’Ambrosio) 4 Otherwise than God and Man: Subverting Purpose and Knowledge in Zhuangzi’s Perspectival Mirror (Brook Ziporyn) 5 Confucius’s Irony: Silent Subversion and Critique in the Analects (Dimitra Amarantidou) 6 Efficacious Subversion: Argument by Relegation in Chan Buddhism (Andrew K. Whitehead) 7 Scolding the Buddhas, Abusing the Patriarchs: An Outlook on the Subversive Hermeneutics of Chan, through Case Four of the Part Two Sociopolitical Subversion 8 To Become the King of All under Heaven: Mengzi as a Strategist of Regime Subversion (Ting-mien Lee) 9 A Daoist Critique of the Huaxia Civilization Project (Daniel Sarafinas) 10 Li Zehou’s Critique of Marx through the Lens of Kantian Philosophy, or the Transcendental Illusion of Class Struggle (Jan 11 Kundao .., Daring Odyssey: Female Daoists’ Discontentment and Challenge to Confucian Womanhood (Robin R. Wang) Part Three Critiques of Concepts and Ideas 12 Critique and Subversion: Rethinking Yang Zhu’s Conception of “Self” (Ellen Y. Zhang) 13 Subversive Cosmology in the Zhuangzi: On the Dispensability of Ritual (Manuel Rivera Espinoza1) 14 Dai Zhen’s Critique of Song Confucian Ideology (Robert A. Carleo III) 15 What Is Critique and What Does It Subvert? Epistemic Intransparency in the Critique of Modern Society (Ady Van den Stock) Contributors Index