Ironies of Oneness and Difference: Coherence in Early Chinese Thought; Prolegomena to the Study of Li

Contents

Contents Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 Rethinking Same and Different 2 Coherence and Li: Plan and Method of This Book and Its Sequel 9 Chapter One Essences, Universals, and Omnipresence: Absolute Sameness and Difference 19 Essences, Universals, Categories, Ideas: Simple Location and   the Disjunction of Same and Different in Mainstream   Western Philosophy 23 Same and Different in Form and Matter 37 Two Opposite Derivations of the Omnipresent 39 Chapter Two What Is Coherence?: Chinese Paradigms 49 Coherence as Opposed to Law, Rule, Principle, Pattern:   Harmony Versus Repeatability 63 Is White Horse Horse? 71 Qian Mu’s Pendulum 77 Ironic and Non‑Ironic Coherence 84 Chapter Three Non‑Ironic Coherence and Negotiable Continuity 89 Coherence and Omniavailability of Value in Confucius   and Mencius 89 Coherence and Heaven in the Analects 94 Ritual Versus Law: Cultural Grammar 103 Rectification of Names: Negotiated Identity as a Function   of Ritual 111 Classes and Types in Mencius 114 Omnipresence in Mencius 127 Transition to Ironic Coherence: Qi‑Omnipresence   and the Empty Center in Pre‑Ironic Proto‑Daoism 131 Chapter Four Ironic Coherence and the Discovery of the “Yin” 139 The Laozi Tradition: Desiring W/holes 139 Overview of Ironic Coherence in the Laozi 142 The Five Meanings of the Unhewn: Omnipresence and   Ironic Coherence in the Laozi 146 Zhuangzi’s Wild Card: Thing as Perspective 162 Using the Wild Card 183 The Wild Card against Both Objective Truth and   Subjective Solipsism 188 Conclusion to Chapter Four: Ironic Coherence 195 Chapter Five Non‑Ironic Responses to Ironic Coherence in Xunzi and the Record of Ritual 199 Xunzi and the Regulation of Sameness and Difference 199 Omnipresence and Coherence in Xunzi 215 Two Texts from the Record of Ritual (Liji): “The Great   Learning,” and “The Doctrine of the Mean” 220 Chapter Six The Yin‑Yang Compromise 229 Yin‑Yang Theism in Dong Zhongshu: The Metastasis of   Harmony and Irony 250 An Alternate Yin‑Yang Divination System: Yang Xiong’s   Taixuanjing 255 Conclusion and Summary Toward Li 265 Notes 269 Bibliography 307 Index 315 vi contents ...