Chinese Intellectual History 508:348 -Draft syllabus

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1 Sukhee Lee Spring 2012 Chinese Intellectual History 508:348 -Draft syllabus History is made by people s actions. But we can t fully understand the meaning of other people s actions until we understand what they thought they were doing. Intellectual history is the queen of all history as it explores how people made sense of themselves and the world and what their thought and ideas tell us about the time and place that produced them. 4,000 years of Chinese history provide us with a cornucopia of diverse intellectual traditions, many of which have perennial relevance not only to the later history of China but also to universal human conditions. This course explores some key moments and issues of Chinese intellectual history from antiquity to the modern period. This course is designed as a 300-level history course. Students are expected to read about 120 to 150 pages a week and to develop a skill of thinking through primary sources and of evaluating the quality of scholarly works. They are expected to write at least 15 pages of academic writing in the course. *Basic background knowledge of Chinese history is strongly recommended. Instructor: Sukhee Lee; sukhlee@rci.rutgers.edu There is no phone in my office. is the only way of contacting me outside the class. Use your Rutgers account when you write to me. And please do not forget to start your subject line with (Chinese Intellectual History) so that I can recognize that it is from one of you. Office: Van Dyck 002E (College Avenue Campus); Learning Goals 1) Develop an understanding of the role of human agency in bringing about change in society and institutions 2) Develop the ability to write persuasively and communicate effectively Books to be purchased Patricia Ebrey, Cambridge Illustrated History of China, 2 nd edition (Cambridge University Press, 2010) ISBN-13: Philip J. Ivanhoe and Bryan W. Van Norden, Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2002) ISBN-13: Huang Zongxi, Waiting for the Dawn: A Plan for the Prince, tr. William Theodore de Bary (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000) ISBN-13: All other readings will be provided at Sakai course site in pdf file. Grading Class attendance and participation 15% (attendance 5% and participation 10%) FIVE response papers based on primary source analysis 10% 1

2 THREE Quizzes 15% TWO Papers Book review (should be double-spaced, typed, and 4-5 page long) 15% Longer paper (6-7 page) 20% Final exam 25% On academic integrity Plagiarized paper or cheating in exams will result in, at least, F for the assignment. In addition, the cases will be reported to the university administration for sanctions. As for the Rutgers policies on academic integrity, see Other Class Policies *Lecture and section attendance is your most basic responsibility. I will take attendance at every lecture and section. Unexcused absences, when they exceed twice, will affect your final grade. (e.g. 3 times, -10% from your class attendance and participation ; 4 times, -20%; ) If you are absent from more than one third of the entire classes and sections, you will automatically get F. *Please turn off your cell phones as a courtesy to others. *Late paper will be penalized by subtracting FIVE points for every day past the due date FOR THE FIRST FIVE days. No paper will be accepted after FIVE days past the due. Famous lines such as I am pretty sure that I ed that to you the other day or I certainly uploaded it at Sakai in time, but somehow can t find it there now will do no good unless you show me hard evidence of such claims (e.g. a print of your original sent mail showing the time of its sending). Weekly Schedule Week 1 Introduction 1) Course Introduction 2) Why Intellectual History? Why China? Quentin Skinner, Meaning and understanding in the history of ideas, in Visions of Politics, vol. 1 (Cambridge, UK.: Cambridge University Press, 2002): Benjamin Schwartz, A Brief Defense of Political and Intellectual History: The Case of China, in China and Other Matters (Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press, 1996):30-44 Week 2 Early Cultural Orientations 1) Shang and Early Zhou 2) Tradition of Sage Kings David N. Keightley, Early Civilization in China: Reflections on How It Became Chinese, in Heritage of China: Contemporary Perspectives on Chinese Civilization, edited by Paul S. Ropp (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990): Benjamin Schwartz, The World of Thought in Ancient China (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985), chapters 1 and 2. Herrlee G. Creel, The Origins of Statecraft in China (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970), chapter 1 2

3 Week 3 The Axial Age in China 1) Disintegration of the Zhou Feudal Order 2) Confucius, the First Teacher Herbert Fingarette, Confucius: The Secular as Sacred (Waveland Pr Inc, 1998) Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2001), chapter 1 Week 4 Critics of Confucius: Impartial Caring and Self-Love 1) Mozi 2) Laozi, Yang Zhu, and Zhuangzi Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy, chapters 2, 4, and 5 Week 5 In Defense of Confucian Ideals 1) DISCUSSION SECTION I 2) Mencius and Xunzi Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy, chapters 3 and 6 Week 6 Art of War and Art of Bureaucracy 1) Sunzi and Han Feizi 2) Rise of Eclecticism: Guanzi and Master Lü s Spring and Autumn Annals Ralph Sawyer, The Art of War (Boulder: Westview, 1994), General Introduction. Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy, chapter 7 Week 7 History and Empire 1) DISCUSSION SECTION II 2) Sima Qian and the Discourses on Salt and Iron Willard Peterson, Ssu-ma Ch ien (Sima Qian) as a Cultural Historian, in The Power of Culture: Studies in Chinese Cultural History (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1994), Sima Qian, The Biography of Po Yi (Bo Yi) and Shu Ch i (Shu Qi), Records of the Historian: Chapters from the Shih Chi of Ssu-ma Ch'ien, 7-15., Letter in Reply to Ren An, Records of the Grand Historian: Qin Dynasty, , Postface, Ssu-ma Ch ien (Sima Qian) Grand Historian of China (New York: Columbia University Press, 1958), Huan Kuan, Discourses on Salt and Iron: A debate on state control of commerce and industry in ancient China, chapter I-XXVIII, tr. Esson M. Gale (selected chapters) Week 8 Canonization of Classics 1) DISCUSSION SECTION III 2) The Five Classics Ezra Pound, The Confucian Odes: The Classic Anthology Defined by Confucius. Michael Nylan, The Five Confucian Classics (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001) Week 9 SPRING RECESS 3

4 NO CLASS Week 10 Emergence of New Alternatives 1) Learning of Mystery 2) Coming of Buddhism Yü Ying-shih, Individualism and the Neo-Taoist Movement in Wei-Chin China, in Individualism and Holism: Studies in Confucian and Taoist Values, ed. Donald Munro (Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan, 1985), Arthur Wright, Buddhism in Chinese History (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1959), Ming-wood Liu, Seng-chao and the Mdhyamika Way of Refutation. Journal of Chinese Philosophy 14 (1987): Week 11 Chinese Buddhism 1) Sinicization of Buddhism: Doctrines and Practices 2) DISCUSSION SECTION IV Morten Schlütter, Transmission and Enlightenment in Chan Buddhism Seen Through the Platform Sūtra. Chung-hwa Buddhist Journal 21 (2007): Jinhua Chen, More Than a Philosopher: Fazang ( ) as a Politician and Miracle-worker. History of Religions 42.4 (May 2003), Antonino Forte, A Jewel in Indra s Net: The Letter Sent by Fazang in China to Ŭisang in Korea. Italian School of East Asian Studies Occasional Papers 8. Kyoto, Week 12 Neo-Confucianism: Rediscovery of Confucian Learning 1) Key Concepts of Neo-Confucianism 2) Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming: Intellectualism and Intuitivism Peter Bol, Neo-Confucianism in History (Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center, 2009), chapters 5 and 6. Stephen Angle, Sagehood: The Contemporary Significance of Neo-Confucian Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), chapter 2. Chen Chun ( ), Neo-Confucian Terms Explained, tr. Wing-tsit Chan (New York: Columbia University Press, 1986), 46-56, , Week 13 Confucian Statecraft in Later Imperial China 1) DISCUSSION SECTION V 2) Radical Reforms, Conservative Reactions and an Overhaul of Confucian Statecraft Peter Bol, Government, Society, and State: On the Political Visions of Ssu-ma Kuang and Wang An-shih, in Ordering the World: Approaches to State and Society in Sung Dynasty China, ed. Robert P. Hymes and Conrad Schirokauer (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993): Lynn Struve, Huang Tsung-hsi (=Zongxi) in Context: A Reappraisal of His Major Writings, Journal of Asian Studies 47.3 (Aug. 1988), Huang Zongxi, Waiting for the Dawn: A Plan for the Prince, tr. William Theodore de Bary (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000) Week 14 Modern Fates of Confucianism: Denunciation and Rehabilitation 4

5 1) A death of Confucius will save the nation : The May Fourth Movement and the Cultural Revolution 2) Confucian Fervor in the late 20 th century Theodore Huters, The Closing of the Confucian Perspective in China, in Rethinking Confucianism: Past and Present in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, eds. Benjamin Elman, John Duncan, and Herman Ooms (Los Angeles: UCLA Asia Institute, 2002) Michael Nylan, A Confusion of Confuciuses: Invoking Kongzi in the Modern World, in Lives of Confucius (New York: Doubleday, 2010), Song Xianlin, Reconstructing the Confucian Ideal in 1980s China: The Culture Craze and New Confucianism, in New Confucianism: a critical examination, ed. John Makeham (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) Week 15 Review DISCUSSION SECTION VI Wrap-up 5