Language, Discourse, and Praxis in Ancient China

Language, Discourse, and Praxis in Ancient China

Author: Zhenbin Sun

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2014-09-10

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 3642548652

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book investigates Chinese comprehension and treatment of the relationship between language and reality. The work examines ancient Chinese philosophy through the pair of concepts known as ming-shi. By analyzing the pre-Qin thinkers’ discourse on ming and shi, the work explores how Chinese philosophers dealt with issues not only in language but also in ontology, epistemology, ethics, axiology, and logic. Through this discourse analysis, readers are invited to rethink the relationship of language to thought and behavior. The author criticizes and corrects vital misunderstandings of Chinese culture and highlights the anti-dualism and pragmatic character of Chinese thoughts. The rich meaning of the ming-shi pair is displayed by revealing its connection to other philosophical issues. The chapters show how discourse on language and reality shapes a central characteristic of Chinese culture, the practical zhi. They illuminate the interplay of Chinese theories of language and Dao as Chinese wisdom and worldview. Readers who are familiar with pragmatics and postmodernism will recognize the common points in ancient Chinese philosophy and contemporary Western philosophy, as they emerge through these chapters. The work will particularly appeal to scholars of philosophy, philosophy of language, communication studies and linguistics.


Philosophy of Language, Chinese Language, Chinese Philosophy

Philosophy of Language, Chinese Language, Chinese Philosophy

Author: Bo Mou

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2018-06-26

Total Pages: 570

ISBN-13: 9004368442

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From the constructive-engagement vantage point of doing philosophy of language comparatively, this anthology explores (1) how reflective elaboration of some distinct features of the Chinese language and of philosophically interesting resources concerning language in Chinese philosophy can contribute to our treatment of a range of issues in philosophy of language and (2) how relevant resources in contemporary philosophy of language can contribute to philosophical interpretations of reflectively interesting resources concerning the Chinese language and Chinese texts. The foregoing contributing fronts constitute two complementary sides of this project. This volume includes 12 contributing essays and 2 engagement-background essays which are organized into six parts on distinct issues. The anthology also includes the volume editor’s theme introduction on comparative philosophy of language and his engaging remarks for three parts.


Aristotle in China

Aristotle in China

Author: Robert Wardy

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2006-11-02

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 113942825X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this book, Robert Wardy, a philosopher and classicist, turns his attention to the relation between language and thought. He explores this huge topic in an analysis of linguistic relativism, with specific reference to a reading of the ming li t'an ('The Investigation of the Theory of Names'), a seventeenth-century Chinese translation of Aristotle's Categories. Throughout his investigation, Wardy addresses important questions. Do the basis structures of language shape the major thought-patterns of its native speakers? Could philosophy be guided and constrained by the language in which it is done? What factors, from grammar and logic to cultural and religious expectations, influence translation? And does Aristotle survive rendition into Chinese intact? His answers will fascinate philosphers, Sinologists, classicists, linguists and anthropologists, and will make a major contribution to the existing literature.


Theories of Truth in Chinese Philosophy

Theories of Truth in Chinese Philosophy

Author: Alexus McLeod

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2015-12-01

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 1783483466

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Theories of Truth in Chinese Philosophy deals with debates surrounding the concept of truth in early Chinese thought, from the earliest periods through to the Han dynasty. Alexus McLeod focuses first on the question of whether there is a concept of truth in early Chinese thought, giving a critical overview of the positions of contemporary scholars on this issue, outlining their arguments and considering objections and possible problems and alternatives. McLeod then goes on to consider a number of possible theories of truth in early Chinese philosophy, giving an overview of what he takes to be the main contenders for truth concepts in the early material, and surrounding concepts and positions. In addition, the author considers how these theories of truth might be relevant in contemporary debates surrounding truth, as well as in the context of theories of truth in the history of philosophy, both in Western and Indian thought.


The Mingjia & Related Texts

The Mingjia & Related Texts

Author:

Publisher: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press

Published: 2020-03-15

Total Pages: 1184

ISBN-13: 9629967774

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

ESSENTIALS IN THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRE-QIN PHILOSOPHY. The Mingjia (School of Names) is a notional grouping of philosophers first recorded as such in the Shiji. Their identifying feature was a concern with linguistic issues particularly involving the correct use of names. The origin of this concern is taken to be Lunyu XIII.3. The group, as listed in the Han Shu, comprised seven men living between the sixth and third centuries BC. Only four of these men have extant writings attributed to them (Deng Xi, Yin Wen, Hui Shi and Gongsun Long) and in three of these there are issues of authenticity. Nevertheless, it is an important group for an understanding of the development of pre-Qin philosophy as the men themselves and the concepts they explored feature prominently in the writings of the other schools. The present work contains four sections: (i) the extant writings of the four men; (ii) all significant references to them in other works up the fourth century AD; (iii) other significant writing on the topics up to that time; and (iv) four appendices on specific issues concerning the school.


The Luminous Way to the East

The Luminous Way to the East

Author: Matteo Nicolini-Zani

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 425

ISBN-13: 0197609643

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"The Missionary Dynamism of the Church of the East It would be an attractive undertaking for the historian to be able to follow in the footsteps of those heralds of the Gospel, who went forth from Antioch with firmness and tenacity in those early days making their way to the East . . . building new centers of Christian irradiation, creating communities and spreading the doctrine of Jesus everywhere. The interest would certainly grow if we were familiar with the challenges faced by these first evangelizers on their way to the Far East. Gaining that knowledge, however, is no easy task. Christ's teaching had to cover immense distances on its road from Antioch towards the East. . . . The details of this diffusion, however, remain obscure. There are no Acts of the Apostles, no Letters of Saint Paul, no contemporary or near-contemporary documents that might tell us how and when Christianity from the region of the Euphrates and the Tigris crossed over the mountainous regions of the Orient, how through Media and Parthia it went south to Herat and Segestan, and how it penetrated eastward, crossing the Margiana (Merv), into the region of the Oxus and the Jaxartes, and finally how it entered today's Russian province of Semireč'e, then Turfan, and then further south into the heart of China"--


China’s Education, Curriculum Knowledge and Cultural Inscriptions

China’s Education, Curriculum Knowledge and Cultural Inscriptions

Author: Weili Zhao

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-06-27

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 1351848119

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

With a focus on the role of discourse and language in education, this book examines China’s educational reform from an original perspective that avoids mapping on Westernized educational sensibilities to a Chinese environment. Zhao untangles the tradition-modernity division expressed in China’s educational language about the body and teacher-student difference. Exploring the historical and cultural implications of the ways China’s schooling is talked about and acted upon, Zhao argues that Chinese notion "wind" (feng) is a defining aspect of Chinese teaching and learning. Incorporating Western and Chinese literature, this book explores the language of education, curriculum, and knowledge on a cross-cultural landscape and as cultural inscriptions.


Translingual Practice

Translingual Practice

Author: Lydia He Liu

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 506

ISBN-13: 9780804725354

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

After the first chapter, which deals with the theoretical issues, ensuing chapters treat particular instances of translingual practice such as national character, individualism, stylistic innovations, first-person narration, and canon formation