Mind And Body In Early China

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Mind and Body in Early China

Edward Slingerland
Mind and Body in Early China Book PDF

Author : Edward Slingerland
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2018-11-23
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780190842321

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Mind and Body in Early China by Edward Slingerland Pdf

Mind and Body in Early China critiques Orientalist accounts of early China as the radical, "holistic" other. The idea that the early Chinese held the "strong" holist view, seeing no qualitative difference between mind and body, has long been contradicted by traditional archeological and qualitative textual evidence. New digital humanities methods, along with basic knowledge about human cognition, now make this position untenable. A large body of empirical evidence suggests that "weak" mind-body dualism is a psychological universal, and that human sociality would be fundamentally impossible without it. Edward Slingerland argues that the humanities need to move beyond social constructivist views of culture, and embrace instead a view of human cognition and culture that integrates the sciences and the humanities. Our interpretation of texts and artifacts from the past and from other cultures should be constrained by what we know about the species-specific, embodied commonalities shared by all humans. This book also attempts to broaden the scope of humanistic methodologies by employing team-based qualitative coding and computer-aided "distant reading" of texts, while also drawing upon our current best understanding of human cognition to transform our basic starting point. It has implications for anyone interested in comparative religion, early China, cultural studies, digital humanities, or science-humanities integration.

Creating Consilience

Edward Slingerland,Mark Collard
Creating Consilience Book PDF

Author : Edward Slingerland,Mark Collard
Publisher : OUP USA
Page : 467 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2012-01-19
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780199794393

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Creating Consilience by Edward Slingerland,Mark Collard Pdf

Calls for a "consilient" or "vertically integrated" approach to the study of human mind and culture have, for the most part, been received by scholars in the humanities with either indifference or hostility. One reason for this is that consilience has often been framed as bringing the study of humanistic issues into line with the study of non-human phenomena, rather than as something to which humanists and scientists contribute equally. The other major reason that consilience has yet to catch on in the humanities is a dearth of compelling examples of the benefits of adopting a consilient approach. Creating Consilience is the product of a workshop that brought together internationally-renowned scholars from a variety of fields to address both of these issues. It includes representative pieces from workshop speakers and participants that examine how adopting such a consilient stance -- informed by cognitive science and grounded in evolutionary theory -- would concretely impact specific topics in the humanities, examining each topic in a manner that not only cuts across the humanities-natural science divide, but also across individual humanistic disciplines. By taking seriously the fact that science-humanities integration is a two-way exchange, this volume takes a new approach to bridging the cultures of science and the humanities. The editors and contributors formulate how to develop a new shared framework of consilience beyond mere interdisciplinarity, in a way that both sides can accept.

China on the Mind

Christopher Bollas
China on the Mind Book PDF

Author : Christopher Bollas
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 170 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2013
Category : History
ISBN : 9780415669764

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China on the Mind by Christopher Bollas Pdf

Thousands of years ago Indo-European culture diverged into Western and Eastern ways of thinking. Bollas examines how they are converging again in psychoanalysis.

Astrology and Cosmology in Early China

David W. Pankenier
Astrology and Cosmology in Early China Book PDF

Author : David W. Pankenier
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 617 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2013-10-10
Category : History
ISBN : 9781107292246

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Astrology and Cosmology in Early China by David W. Pankenier Pdf

The ancient Chinese were profoundly influenced by the Sun, Moon and stars, making persistent efforts to mirror astral phenomena in shaping their civilization. In this pioneering text, David W. Pankenier introduces readers to a seriously understudied field, illustrating how astronomy shaped the culture of China from the very beginning and how it influenced areas as disparate as art, architecture, calendrical science, myth, technology, and political and military decision-making. As elsewhere in the ancient world, there was no positive distinction between astronomy and astrology in ancient China, and so astrology, or more precisely, astral omenology, is a principal focus of the book. Drawing on a broad range of sources, including archaeological discoveries, classical texts, inscriptions and paleography, this thought-provoking book documents the role of astronomical phenomena in the development of the 'Celestial Empire' from the late Neolithic through the late imperial period.

Trying Not to Try

Edward Slingerland
Trying Not to Try Book PDF

Author : Edward Slingerland
Publisher : Crown
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2014-03-04
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9780770437626

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Trying Not to Try by Edward Slingerland Pdf

A deeply original exploration of the power of spontaneity—an ancient Chinese ideal that cognitive scientists are only now beginning to understand—and why it is so essential to our well-being Why is it always hard to fall asleep the night before an important meeting? Or be charming and relaxed on a first date? What is it about a politician who seems wooden or a comedian whose jokes fall flat or an athlete who chokes? In all of these cases, striving seems to backfire. In Trying Not To Try, Edward Slingerland explains why we find spontaneity so elusive, and shows how early Chinese thought points the way to happier, more authentic lives. We’ve long been told that the way to achieve our goals is through careful reasoning and conscious effort. But recent research suggests that many aspects of a satisfying life, like happiness and spontaneity, are best pursued indirectly. The early Chinese philosophers knew this, and they wrote extensively about an effortless way of being in the world, which they called wu-wei (ooo-way). They believed it was the source of all success in life, and they developed various strategies for getting it and hanging on to it. With clarity and wit, Slingerland introduces us to these thinkers and the marvelous characters in their texts, from the butcher whose blade glides effortlessly through an ox to the wood carver who sees his sculpture simply emerge from a solid block. Slingerland uncovers a direct line from wu-wei to the Force in Star Wars, explains why wu-wei is more powerful than flow, and tells us what it all means for getting a date. He also shows how new research reveals what’s happening in the brain when we’re in a state of wu-wei—why it makes us happy and effective and trustworthy, and how it might have even made civilization possible. Through stories of mythical creatures and drunken cart riders, jazz musicians and Japanese motorcycle gangs, Slingerland effortlessly blends Eastern thought and cutting-edge science to show us how we can live more fulfilling lives. Trying Not To Try is mind-expanding and deeply pleasurable, the perfect antidote to our striving modern culture.

Effortless Action

Edward Slingerland
Effortless Action Book PDF

Author : Edward Slingerland
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 365 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2007-05-24
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780199874576

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Effortless Action by Edward Slingerland Pdf

This book presents a systematic account of the role of the personal spiritual ideal of wu-wei--literally "no doing," but better rendered as "effortless action"--in early Chinese thought. Edward Slingerland's analysis shows that wu-wei represents the most general of a set of conceptual metaphors having to do with a state of effortless ease and unself-consciousness. This concept of effortlessness, he contends, serves as a common ideal for both Daoist and Confucian thinkers. He also argues that this concept contains within itself a conceptual tension that motivates the development of early Chinese thought: the so-called "paradox of wu-wei," or the question of how one can consciously "try not to try." Methodologically, this book represents a preliminary attempt to apply the contemporary theory of conceptual metaphor to the study of early Chinese thought. Although the focus is upon early China, both the subject matter and methodology have wider implications. The subject of wu-wei is relevant to anyone interested in later East Asian religious thought or in the so-called "virtue-ethics" tradition in the West. Moreover, the technique of conceptual metaphor analysis--along with the principle of "embodied realism" upon which it is based--provides an exciting new theoretical framework and methodological tool for the study of comparative thought, comparative religion, intellectual history, and even the humanities in general. Part of the purpose of this work is thus to help introduce scholars in the humanities and social sciences to this methodology, and provide an example of how it may be applied to a particular sub-field.

Discourses of Disease

Howard Y. F. Choy
Discourses of Disease Book PDF

Author : Howard Y. F. Choy
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 291 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2016-05-18
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9789004319219

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Discourses of Disease by Howard Y. F. Choy Pdf

This edited volume includes studies of discourses about bodily and psychiatric illness in modern China, bringing together scholarships that reconfigure the fields of history, literature, film, psychology, anthropology, and gender studies by tracing the pathological path of China through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries into the new millennium.

Material Virtue

Mark Csikszentmihalyi
Material Virtue Book PDF

Author : Mark Csikszentmihalyi
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 412 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2021-09-13
Category : History
ISBN : 9789047406778

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Material Virtue by Mark Csikszentmihalyi Pdf

An examination of both excavated and transmitted texts that link ethics and natural philosophy, Material Virtue narrates the history of a neglected tradition that argues virtue has physical presence in the body, and rewrites the formative period of Confucianism.

To Become a God

Michael J. Puett
To Become a God Book PDF

Author : Michael J. Puett
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 378 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2020-10-26
Category : History
ISBN : 9781684170418

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To Become a God by Michael J. Puett Pdf

Evidence from Shang oracle bones to memorials submitted to Western Han emperors attests to a long-lasting debate in early China over the proper relationship between humans and gods. One pole of the debate saw the human and divine realms as separate and agonistic and encouraged divination to determine the will of the gods and sacrifices to appease and influence them. The opposite pole saw the two realms as related and claimed that humans could achieve divinity and thus control the cosmos. This wide-ranging book reconstructs this debate and places within their contemporary contexts the rival claims concerning the nature of the cosmos and the spirits, the proper demarcation between the human and the divine realms, and the types of power that humans and spirits can exercise. It is often claimed that the worldview of early China was unproblematically monistic and that hence China had avoided the tensions between gods and humans found in the West. By treating the issues of cosmology, sacrifice, and self-divinization in a historical and comparative framework that attends to the contemporary significance of specific arguments, Michael J. Puett shows that the basic cosmological assumptions of ancient China were the subject of far more debate than is generally thought.

The Expressiveness of the Body and the Divergence of Greek and Chinese Medicine

Shigehisa Kuriyama
The Expressiveness of the Body and the Divergence of Greek and Chinese Medicine Book PDF

Author : Shigehisa Kuriyama
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 159 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2023-10-17
Category : History
ISBN : 9780942299939

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The Expressiveness of the Body and the Divergence of Greek and Chinese Medicine by Shigehisa Kuriyama Pdf

An illuminating account of how early medicine in Greece and China perceived the human body Winner of the William H. Welch Medal, American Association for the History of Medicine The true structure and workings of the human body are, we casually assume, everywhere the same, a universal reality. But when we look into the past, our sense of reality wavers: accounts of the body in diverse medical traditions often seem to describe mutually alien, almost unrelated worlds. How can perceptions of something as basic and intimate as the body differ so? In this book, Shigehisa Kuriyama explores this fundamental question, elucidating the fascinating contrasts between the human body described in classical Greek medicine and the body as envisaged by physicians in ancient China. Revealing how perceptions of the body and conceptions of personhood are intimately linked, his comparative inquiry invites us, indeed compels us, to reassess our own habits of feeling and perceiving.

Social Memory and State Formation in Early China

Min Li
Social Memory and State Formation in Early China Book PDF

Author : Min Li
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 587 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2018-05-24
Category : History
ISBN : 9781107141452

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Social Memory and State Formation in Early China by Min Li Pdf

A thought-provoking book on the archaeology of power, knowledge, social memory, and the emergence of classical tradition in early China.

Food, Sacrifice, and Sagehood in Early China

Roel Sterckx
Food Sacrifice and Sagehood in Early China Book PDF

Author : Roel Sterckx
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 247 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2011-03-28
Category : History
ISBN : 9781139495448

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Food, Sacrifice, and Sagehood in Early China by Roel Sterckx Pdf

In ancient China, the preparation of food and the offering up of food as a religious sacrifice were intimately connected with models of sagehood and ideas of self-cultivation and morality. Drawing on received and newly excavated written sources, Roel Sterckx's book explores how this vibrant culture influenced the ways in which the early Chinese explained the workings of the human senses, and the role of sensory experience in communicating with the spirit world. The book, which begins with a survey of dietary culture from the Zhou to the Han, offers intriguing insights into the ritual preparation of food - some butchers and cooks were highly regarded and would rise to positions of influence as a result of their culinary skills - and the sacrificial ceremony itself. As a major contribution to the study of early China and to the development of philosophical thought, the book will be essential reading for students of the period, and for anyone interested in ritual and religion in the ancient world.

Philosophy and Religion in Early Medieval China

Alan K. L. Chan,Yuet-Keung Lo
Philosophy and Religion in Early Medieval China Book PDF

Author : Alan K. L. Chan,Yuet-Keung Lo
Publisher : State University of New York Press
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2010-08-04
Category : History
ISBN : 9781438431895

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Philosophy and Religion in Early Medieval China by Alan K. L. Chan,Yuet-Keung Lo Pdf

Exploring a time of profound change, this book details the intellectual ferment after the fall of the Han dynasty. Questions about "heaven" and the affairs of the world that had seemed resolved by Han Confucianism resurfaced and demanded reconsideration. New currents in philosophy, religion, and intellectual life emerged to leave an indelible mark on the subsequent development of Chinese thought and culture. This period saw the rise of xuanxue ("dark learning" or "learning of the mysterious Dao"), the establishment of religious Daoism, and the rise of Buddhism. In examining the key ideas of xuanxue and focusing on its main proponents, the contributors to this volume call into question the often-presumed monolithic identity of this broad philosophical front. The volume also highlights the richness and complexity of religion in China during this period, examining the relationship between the Way of the Celestial Master and local, popular religious beliefs and practices, and discussing the relationship between religious Daoism and Buddhism.

Chinese Religion and Familism

Jordan Paper
Chinese Religion and Familism Book PDF

Author : Jordan Paper
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2019-10-03
Category : History
ISBN : 9781350103634

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Chinese Religion and Familism by Jordan Paper Pdf

Reflecting on over half a century of study on Chinese culture, Jordan Paper explores new ways of approaching religion in China. Moving away from using Christianity as a model for examination, which has led to considerable misunderstandings between China and the West, Paper instead applies the paradigm of Familism to Chinese religion. By looking through the lens of Familism, which emphasises the importance of the family unit, Paper argues that we can understand the basis of Chinese culture, society, government, and religion. In the book, Paper explains how, when and why Familism appears in the development of human culture in the Neolithic period, as well as its ramifications in more complex societies, using the imperial Chinese state as an example. The discussion in the book includes how the Chinese state can be understood as a religious institution; the role of spirit possession; the relationship of other religions in China to Chinese Religion, including Buddhism, Daoism and Judaism; and the issue of freedom of religion in contemporary China. Chinese Religion and Familism not only challenges the discipline's perception of Chinese religion, but all of the religions of East Asia, indigenous sub-Saharan African religions, Polynesian Religion, and elsewhere.

A Tripartite Self

Lisa Ann Raphals
A Tripartite Self Book PDF

Author : Lisa Ann Raphals
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2023
Category : Dualism
ISBN : 0197630898

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A Tripartite Self by Lisa Ann Raphals Pdf

"Chinese philosophy has long recognized the importance of the body and emotions in extensive and diverse self-cultivation traditions. Philosophical debates about the relationship between mind and body are often described in terms of mind-body dualism and its opposite, monism or some kind of "holism." Monist or holist views agree on the unity of mind and body, but with much debate about what kind, whereas mind-body dualists take body and mind to be metaphysically distinct entities. The question is important for several reasons. Several humanistic and scientific disciplines recognize embodiment as an important dimension of the human condition. One version, the problem of mind-body dualism, is central to the history of both philosophy and religion. Some account of relations between body and mind, spirit or soul is also central to any understanding of the self. Recent work in cognitive and neuroscience underscores the importance of our somatic experience for how we think and feel"--