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Ancient Thought in the Mega-Text of Zhou Changes, Analects, and Zuo zhuan
Series: - Prognostication in History, Volume: 13
Author:
In his posthumous magnum opus, Scott Davis demonstrates how the compilers of three of the Chinese classics—the Yijing (Book of Changes), Lunyu (Confucian Analects), and Zuo zhuan (Zuo Tradition)— strategically deployed certain motifs and images as structuring elements, thereby melding these texts into a semantic continuum.
The author’s innovative approach is informed by an anthropological understanding of the social structures and the material realities underlying Chinese intellectual culture during the first millennium BC. The book uncovers the deep underlying structures of traditional Chinese ways of thinking about the world, and it yields important original insights into text production in ancient China.
The author’s innovative approach is informed by an anthropological understanding of the social structures and the material realities underlying Chinese intellectual culture during the first millennium BC. The book uncovers the deep underlying structures of traditional Chinese ways of thinking about the world, and it yields important original insights into text production in ancient China.
Scott Davis (1951-2024) received his PhD in anthropology from Harvard University in 1992 and pursued his academic career at a number of institutions in Taiwan, Australia, Japan, Korea, the People’s Republic of China, and the US. Reflecting an unusually broad engagement with traditional Chinese culture in both ancient and modern times, his publications cover medical anthropology, popular religion, ritual and performance studies, and the study of classical texts. He is the author of The Classic of Changes in Cultural Context: A Textual Archaeology of the Yi jing (Albany, New York: Cambria Press, 2012).
Preface and Acknowledgements
List of Figures and Tables
Four Desiderata
Introduction: Study Ancient Texts
1 Opening Words and General Idea
2 History and Divination: Implications of Divination
3 History and Veracity
4 Texts and Historicity
5 What Must Be Done
1 Preparation for Analysis
1 Précis
2 Goal, Method, Criteria
3 Some Numbers to Go By
4 Summary: the Individual as Function
2 The Zuo Tradition
1 Main Frames for the Zuo zhuan
2 The Pivotal Center of History
3 Using gu in a Text
4 The “gan” 幹 Subsystem of the gu 蠱 System in the Zuo zhuan
The Mega-Text Part 1
3 Birth and Childhood
L1 / L2
L3 / L4
L5 / L6
L7 / L8
4 At Ten, a Person Is Called Juvenile and Studies
L9 / L10
L11 / L12
L13 / L14
L15 / L16
L17 / L18
5 At Twenty, One Is Slight, and Undergoes Capping
L19 / L20
L21 / L22
L23 / L24
L25 / L26
L27 / L28
L29 / L30
The Mega-Text Part 2
6 At Thirty, One Is Strong, with a Family
L31 / L32
L33 / L34
L35 / L36
L37 / L38
7 At Forty, One Is Substantial and Can Serve, Assisting Official Functions
L39 / L40
L41 / L42
L43 / L44
L45 / L46
L47 / L48
8 At Fifty, Graying, One Serves, Governing from an Official Position
L49 / L50
L51 / L52
L53 / L54
L55 / L56
L57 / L58
9 At Sixty, One Is Old and Delegates
L59 / L60
L61 / L62
L63 / L64
10 What Happens after K64?
11 Summaries of Categories
Conclusions
1 Reflections and a Tantative Interpretation
2 On the Opposition of Structure and History
3 Literature and Mathematics
4 Envoi
Appendix 1: Conversion Table for K Series and Zuo zhuan Years
Appendix 2: Reference List: Chapters of the Analects
Appendix 3: Pronouncing Chinese: Some Prominent States’ Names
Bibliography
Index
List of Figures and Tables
Four Desiderata
Introduction: Study Ancient Texts
1 Opening Words and General Idea
2 History and Divination: Implications of Divination
3 History and Veracity
4 Texts and Historicity
5 What Must Be Done
1 Preparation for Analysis
1 Précis
2 Goal, Method, Criteria
3 Some Numbers to Go By
4 Summary: the Individual as Function
2 The Zuo Tradition
1 Main Frames for the Zuo zhuan
2 The Pivotal Center of History
3 Using gu in a Text
4 The “gan” 幹 Subsystem of the gu 蠱 System in the Zuo zhuan
The Mega-Text Part 1
3 Birth and Childhood
L1 / L2
L3 / L4
L5 / L6
L7 / L8
4 At Ten, a Person Is Called Juvenile and Studies
L9 / L10
L11 / L12
L13 / L14
L15 / L16
L17 / L18
5 At Twenty, One Is Slight, and Undergoes Capping
L19 / L20
L21 / L22
L23 / L24
L25 / L26
L27 / L28
L29 / L30
The Mega-Text Part 2
6 At Thirty, One Is Strong, with a Family
L31 / L32
L33 / L34
L35 / L36
L37 / L38
7 At Forty, One Is Substantial and Can Serve, Assisting Official Functions
L39 / L40
L41 / L42
L43 / L44
L45 / L46
L47 / L48
8 At Fifty, Graying, One Serves, Governing from an Official Position
L49 / L50
L51 / L52
L53 / L54
L55 / L56
L57 / L58
9 At Sixty, One Is Old and Delegates
L59 / L60
L61 / L62
L63 / L64
10 What Happens after K64?
11 Summaries of Categories
Conclusions
1 Reflections and a Tantative Interpretation
2 On the Opposition of Structure and History
3 Literature and Mathematics
4 Envoi
Appendix 1: Conversion Table for K Series and Zuo zhuan Years
Appendix 2: Reference List: Chapters of the Analects
Appendix 3: Pronouncing Chinese: Some Prominent States’ Names
Bibliography
Index
Classical sinologists; readers interested in the comparative study of ancient texts; linguistic and structural anthropologists.