Reconstructing the Structure of History of Chinese Ethical Spirit In terms of semiotic and hermeneutic approachs

                                    Li Youzheng


After publishing the English works of the similar topic in Peter Lang in 1997, the author spent another 10 years preparing this new work for the Chinese readers. The literature employed in this new work is multiply enriched than the last one and the semiotic analysis is much more deeply elaborated. It is attempted to revolution all past intellectual pictures given in history and to begin a completely new era for grasping Chinese intellectual history. Once again, the work clearly makes separate the feudal social-political systems, the academic ideology and the original ethical spirit. The former two’s despotism and the latter’s humanism form a historical contrast or form a double-tone structure in history. To explore the humanist origin and potential in the feudal-despotic history is the main purpose of the discussions. The work involves philosophical, history-theoretical and literary-theoretical aspects which are linked to the current Western theoretical sources as well. On the whole , it is a synthetic result of modern advanced Chinese test-historiography and the semiotic perspective. And the ethical dimension in history is once again understood as an interdisciplinary phenomenon. The combination of ethics and semiotics becomes the unique feature of this effort in contemporary humanities.

 

       A Hermeneutic Study of Historical Ru-Academia

   ---Reconstructing Chinese Ethical History

           2-volumes, 990 pp.

    

                (in Chinese)

 

                You-zheng Li

 

    The Chinese Renming University Press, Beijing,

         November, 2009

 

                       Basic Outline

 

  Vol.1 The Volume of Historical Institutions

 
Preface

Introduction   The Principles of Analysis and Interpretation of the Book

 

   1. Section of  Shang History
   2. Section of Zhou History
   3. Section of The Five Classics
   4. Section of Ru-Historiography

 

    Vol. 2  The Volume of Ethical Spirit

 

Preface

 

   5. Section of Pre-Qin Thought
   6. Section of Li-Philosophy
   7. Section of The Southern-Song Spirit
   8. Section of The Eastern Zhejiang Thought

Epilogue

Afterword

Bibliography

 

 

          Complete Table of Contents

 

Introduction   The Principles of Analysis and Interpretation of the Book

     1.History and Historiography

     2. Hermeneutics and Semiotics

     3. Ru-Confucianist Learning and Ren-Confucian Thought

 

                                Volume I

 

Section 1  Written Records in Shang History

Foreword: Connection between the Written and  the Archeological Historical materials

 

   1.Historical facts in Remote Ancient History and Typology of Historical Material

   2. Legends about the Three Dynasties and Archeological Evidences

   3. Inscription on bones or Tortoise Shells and Historiography of Shang

   4. The Methods of Double Evidences (1) : Archeology and Historiography

   5. The Methods of Double Evidences (2): Learning of Oracle Inscriptions and the Table of Lineages of the Three Dynasties

   6. History of Shang and the Table of Shang Genealogy

   7. Problems of Historical facts in Shang history

   8. Epistemological Conclusion of Shang history

 

Section 2  History of Zhou Dynasty

Foreword: The Structural Demarcation between Pre-Qin and Post-Qin  Historiographies

 

   1. Composition of Pre-Qin Historical Material

   2. Inscriptions on Bronzes in Shang and Zhou

   3. Connections between the Written Documents and Engraved Inscriptions in

      Zhou

   4. Pre-Qin Historical Books(1): Ancient History in The Records

   5. Pre-Qin Historical Books(2): Some Fake Historical books

   6. Pre-Qin Historical Books(3): The Book of History and its Referred History

   7. Composition of Historical Material in The Eastern Zhou

 

Section 3 The Five Ru-Classics

Foreword: Modern Usage of Traditional Terms

1.   The Establishment of the Five-Classics System in Han

2.   The Classic of the Change

3.   The Classic of Spring and Autumn

   4. The Classic of Odes
   5. The Classic of Rites
   6. The Classic of the History
   7. The Five Classics and the Ru-Ideology

   8. The Academic Typology of the Five Classics Learning

 

Section 4   System of Orthodox Histories

Foreword: Classification of Historical Studies and the Orthodox History

 

   1. Nature and Function of Ru-Historiography
   2. The Records as the Archetype of the Orthodox Histories
   3. The Institution of the Orthodox Histories and its Ideological Functions
   4. Developments of the Holistic View in Ru-Historiography

   5. The Double-Voiced Function in the Orthodox Historical Discourse:

      Ru-Learning and Ren-Thought

   6. The Inclination of Fact-related Thinking in Ru-Historiography

 

 

                  Volume 2

Preface

Section 5   Pre-Qin Thought

Foreword: The Changing of Meaning of Ancient Characters and the Uses of

          Character “Ru”

 

   1.Ru-Political Institution and Intellectual Schools

   2. The Pre-Qin Thoughts and the Formation of Written Culture in Han

   3. The Schools as Intellectual Tendencies: Constitution, Function and meaning

   4.The Three major Pre-Qin Schools: Type 1 and Type 2

   5. Characterization of Ru-Roles and Typology of Intellectual Inclinations

   6. Ren-Thought and Ru-Learning: The 5-Layered  Hermeneutic Contradictions

   7. Historical Institutions and Humanist Way of Thinking

8.   The Implicit Demarcation between Ru-Learning and Ren-Thought

9.   The Pre-Qin Books by Individuals and the Eclectic Thought of Han

   10. Ru-Society and Impact of Ren-Thought

   11. Identity and Personality of Ru-Scholars

Section 6  Neo-Confucianist Philosophy in Song Dynasties
Foreword: Li-Philosophy and its Tendency towards Ren-Thought
1.   The Formation of the Neo-Confucianist Philosophy in Northern Song
2.   The Scholarship of the Change and Metaphysics in Song
3.   Reduction of Neo-Confucianist Philosophy To Confucian Ren-Thought
4.   The Comprehensively Synthesizing Achievements of Zhu Xi’s Learning

5. Constitution and Function of the Four-books System (1)
6. Constitution and Function of the Four-books System (2)
7. The Neo-confucianist Philosophy as the Tensional Scope between Ru-Learning and Ren-Thought
8. The Movement of the Neo-Confucianism in Song:
Section 7 The Ethical Spirit of the Southern Song
Foreword: Critical Situations and Ethical Poetics
1. Song Li-Philosophy and Cultural Spirit of the Southern Song
2. Literatures of Tang and Song, The Difference of Their Characters
3. Chinese Poetics and Will of the Poet
4. Will in Ren-Thought and Typology of Traditional Texts
5. The Stereotyped Poems and Ethical Poetry
6. The Ethical Poetics of Southern Song
7. The Spiritual Tradition of Ethical Heroism
8. A Hermeneutic Grasp of the Spirit of Southern Song

Section 8  The Historiographic Thought of the Eastern Zhe-Jiang

Foreword: Intellectual Tradition of the Eastern Zhe-Jiang

   1. Psychological Philosophy of Wang Yang-ming
   2. The Learning of Sincerity and The Innate Knowledge
   3. The Movement of the Dong-Lin Academic Temple
   4. Typology of the Political Integrity and Self-Sacrifice of Scholars by the End of Ming
   5. Examples of Phenomenon of Moral Chastity of Ming Scholars in Early Qing
   6. The Gu yanwu, Huang zongxi, Wang fuzhi and the Learng of Huang
   7. The Fact-related Learning and Thought of Eastern-Zhe-Jiang
   8. Thought of the Eastern-Zhe-Jiang and Sincerity-Principle in Historiography
   9. Sincerity-Learning as the Volitional Principle in Ren-Confucian Thought

Epilogue : The Positive Way of Thinking and Ethics

Incited Bibliography

          * * * * *
Supplementary discussions: On he Scholarship of Intellectual History
   and the Ren-ethical Orientation

Afterword

 
                                  Volime One
                                  Volume two