said (7mo ago #1969 ):
Classical Education with Confucian Characteristics
I started writing a response to >>1967 but it reached the point where it deserves a new thread, possibly for discussion on further reading groups, ordering, importance, etc.
>what books and authors are especially important to study if we are to understand the other in a deep way and chart an alternate path? What have you read so far, and what do you think would be worth a read?
It's plausible that the first flourishing of philosophy in the east arose with the societal decay of the spring and autumn/warring states period in ancient China. These ideas would influence the entire cultural region for the next two millennia, though the reality these days is that nobody can really grok classical chinese without a lot of study (even if one knows a bunch of characters), so, no shame in reading an annotated translation in whichever modern language of choice. The suggested translations are from leading anglophone scholars.
With that in mind, I'd recommend Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching first, trans. J. Legge, optionally followed by the writings of Master Chuang (Zhuangzi), trans. H.A. Giles. They demonstrate the more mystical roots which allowed for the generation of knowledge to begin. Some of these ideas I don't think I absorbed by reading, but more just by outright immersion.
In recent memory, a classical Confucian education would have begun with the Four Books. A typical sequence is the Great Learning, then the Doctrine of the Mean, then the Confucian Analects, then Mencius. The first three I know better than the fourth. James Legge's translations for these. With that there is a base to understand how the Confucian concepts of 德(tok, de - virtue), 仁 (nyin, ren - humaneness), etc. are used in context.
The Art of War (trans. L. Giles) is relatively short. There's also (parts of)the Zuo (Tso) Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals (trans. J. Legge), which I don't know well but have accumulated various stories from, retold in various forms. I also don't know the writings of Han Fei that well but I would like to read them.
This is the really old stuff that I think should make up the core, analogous to the position of ancient greek philosophy or the foundational texts of christianity in the west. I'd be happy to hear thoughts on what else should be read. To get to the modern states of China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam is another deep discussion, maybe a comment to this thread. For China/chinese business networks more broadly, the long approach would be to look at the nature of chinese capitalism as it developed after the opium wars to today. I'd be curious about recommendations.
>what books and authors are especially important to study if we are to understand the other in a deep way and chart an alternate path? What have you read so far, and what do you think would be worth a read?
It's plausible that the first flourishing of philosophy in the east arose with the societal decay of the spring and autumn/warring states period in ancient China. These ideas would influence the entire cultural region for the next two millennia, though the reality these days is that nobody can really grok classical chinese without a lot of study (even if one knows a bunch of characters), so, no shame in reading an annotated translation in whichever modern language of choice. The suggested translations are from leading anglophone scholars.
With that in mind, I'd recommend Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching first, trans. J. Legge, optionally followed by the writings of Master Chuang (Zhuangzi), trans. H.A. Giles. They demonstrate the more mystical roots which allowed for the generation of knowledge to begin. Some of these ideas I don't think I absorbed by reading, but more just by outright immersion.
In recent memory, a classical Confucian education would have begun with the Four Books. A typical sequence is the Great Learning, then the Doctrine of the Mean, then the Confucian Analects, then Mencius. The first three I know better than the fourth. James Legge's translations for these. With that there is a base to understand how the Confucian concepts of 德(tok, de - virtue), 仁 (nyin, ren - humaneness), etc. are used in context.
The Art of War (trans. L. Giles) is relatively short. There's also (parts of)the Zuo (Tso) Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals (trans. J. Legge), which I don't know well but have accumulated various stories from, retold in various forms. I also don't know the writings of Han Fei that well but I would like to read them.
This is the really old stuff that I think should make up the core, analogous to the position of ancient greek philosophy or the foundational texts of christianity in the west. I'd be happy to hear thoughts on what else should be read. To get to the modern states of China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam is another deep discussion, maybe a comment to this thread. For China/chinese business networks more broadly, the long approach would be to look at the nature of chinese capitalism as it developed after the opium wars to today. I'd be curious about recommendations.