Spiritual Geography of Early Chinese Thought Gods, Ancestors, and Afterlife
Produktdetaljer
Om bidragsyterne
Kelly James Clark is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Ibn Haldun University, Istanbul.
Justin Winslett is University Lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Sheffield, UK.
Of the many Orientalist myths about China, the idea that the ‘humanist’ early Chinese lacked anything like a Western conception of the supernatural, souls or god(s) is one of the most pernicious. Clark and Winslett’s careful debunking of this misconception is an important and useful corrective.
Edward Slingerland, Professor of Philosophy, University of British Columbia, Canada
Previous discussions of Chinese views on spirituality have tended toward one of two extremes. They either treat Chinese philosophers as atheistic materialists or they assimilate Chinese spirituality to the Abrahamic religions. <i>A Spiritual Geography of Early Chinese Thought, </i>by Kelly James Clark and Justin Winslett, is a welcome corrective to these one-sided accounts. With remarkable nuance, Clark and Winslett illustrate the diversity and complexity of Chinese views on spirits, gods, and the afterlife.
Bryan W. Van Norden, James Monroe Taylor Chair in Philosophy, Vassar College, USA
Kelly James Clark and Justin Winslett take readers on an illuminating journey through early Chinese religion, rewriting the interpretive route they call 'the naturalizing narrative' and correcting its four misleading landmarks: (1) The Chinese don't believe in God or the afterlife; (2) Belief in the High God and belief in the afterlife were common among peasants and in the <i>Mozi</i>, but not in the philosophical texts; 3) The Confucians don't believe in God or the afterlife; and (4) God and the afterlife are morally irrelevant to Confucian moral theory.
Ronnie Littlejohn, Chaney Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Belmont University, USA
Required reading for any scholar interested in meta-philosophical questions concerning Chinese thought or simply seeking to better understand the state of the fields of both sinology and Chinese philosophy today.
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
It is widely claimed that notions of gods and religious beliefs are irrelevant or inconsequential to early Chinese (“Confucian”) moral and political thought. Rejecting the claim that religious practice plays a minimal philosophical role, Kelly James Clark and Justin Winslett offer a textual study that maps the religious terrain of early Chinese texts. They analyze the pantheon of extrahumans, from high gods to ancestor spirits, discussing their various representations, as well as examining conceptions of the afterlife and religious ritual.
Demonstrating that religious beliefs in early China are both textually endorsed and ritually embodied, this book goes on to show how gods, ancestors and afterlife are philosophically salient. The summative chapter on the role of religious ritual in moral formation shows how religion forms a complex philosophical system capable of informing moral, social, and political conditions.
List of Tables
Introduction
Part I. High Gods and their Critics
1. Heaven and the High God(s) in Early China
2. Heaven in the Xunzi, Mozi and Zhuangzi
3. The Depersonalization of Heaven?
Part II. Gods and “the Philosophers”
4. Was Confucius a Theist?
5. Mencius on Heaven
Part III. Ancestors and Afterlife
6. The Soul and the Afterlife
7. Sacrifice
Part IV. A Deeper Dive
8. The Evolutionary Psychology of Chinese Religion
9. Lesser Deities of the Pre-Imperial Era
Appendix: The Curious Case of Dong Shongshu
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Formerly Continuum Studies in Philosophy of Religion; for titles published before September 2012 click here.
Bloomsbury Studies in Philosophy of Religion presents scholarly monographs offering cutting-edge research and debate to students and scholars in philosophy of religion. The series engages with the central questions and issues within the field, including the problem of evil, the cosmological, teleological, moral, and ontological arguments for the existence of God, divine foreknowledge, and the coherence of theism. It also incorporates volumes on the following metaphysical issues as and when they directly impact on the philosophy of religion: the existence and nature of the soul, the existence and nature of free will, natural law, the meaning of life, and science and religion.
Produktdetaljer
Om bidragsyterne
Kelly James Clark is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Ibn Haldun University, Istanbul.
Justin Winslett is University Lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Sheffield, UK.