Monday, November 21
Reading: "Treatise on Tian," Watson, Xunzi, 93-123 ("A Discussion of Rites," "A Discussion of Music")
"Treatise on Tian"
This chapter is celebrated for its anti-spiritualism and its attack on cosmological naturalism. Be sure to attend to these, but there are other important themes as well. In particular, the chapter offers us an alternative portrait of the mind (or heart-mind), which differs in some respects from the portrait encountered in "Removing Blinders," a difference chiefly in emphasis. What are the common elements, and where does the "Treatise on Tian" add new ideas? Another important issue concerns whether Tian serves as a standard for man. Can you find contradictory positions on this within the chapter? Is Tian positive, neutral, or negative with regard to man?
"A Discussion of Rites," "A Discussion of Music"
These two essays rationalize, in various ways, two key Confucian commitments: to li (ritual) and to music. All non-Confucian schools focused their attacks on Confucianism around the seemingly arbitrary ascription of value to ritual forms which characterized Confucians. How does the Xunzi defend the Confucian stand? How does the text find aspects of universal value in the particular rituals which had evolved historically in China? -- Note: Some pages in these essays deal with particulars of ritual and music that are of limited interest to us, and sections describing such details may be skimmed (pp. 107-114 in particular).