Dubious Facts: The Evidence of Early Chinese Historiography

Index

275 Index accurate representation of affairs: and “true” stories, 26–27; and “truth” in early Chinese context, 172–73; commitment to in pre-modern Chinese histories, 17–18, 19–20, 104–105; emperor’s desire for, 137–40, 152 ancient historian, as journalist, 29–30 Aristotle: on common reports as evidence , 4, 26, 90; and cultural definition of commonsense, 23 Ban Gu 班固 (32–92 CE), and commitment to historiographical objectivity, 18, 19, 46, 155, 217–18 n. 1 Bureau of Memorials, in the Former Han, 42–44 categories of evidence: and distinctions of epistemic weight, 102–03, 173; epistemic function of, 97–98, 171–74; general division of, 55–70 Chao Cuo 晁錯 (200–154 BCE): foundational common sense propositions, 168–69; use of concrete particulars, 156; use of “I have heard that” and “I humbly have heard that,” 50 Clifford Geertz, on qualities of common sense knowledge, 24–25, 89, 169 Chen Yu 陳餘 (Lord of Cheng’an 成安 君, ?–204 BCE), 69–70, 162–63, 165, 170, 174 coherence, standard for premodern truth, 18, 27–28, 30–31, 45–46 common sense: as culturally bound, 22–23; dependent on human needs, 88–90; epistemic function of, 75, 90–91, 164; Han moral concerns possibly functioning as, 108, 133; propositions, examples of, 86, 102, 125–26, 128, 168–69; vs. popular knowledge, 4, 24–26 concrete particulars: categories of, 155– 61; discrete functions of, 171–74; general role of, in political argument, 66–70, 162–65; regarding domestic vs. foreign campaigns, 165–66; and resolution of emperor’s epistemic doubts, 106–08, 166–70; use of, by “rationalists”: Yan You, 156, 159–60, 164; by Zhao Chongguo, 67–68, 74, 98, 156–57, 168, 173; by Chao Cuo, 156 Confucius (551–479 BCE), 14 Confucian norms, 108–09, 119, 156, 175 Dai 代, lands of, 113–17, 125, 128, 242 n. 7, 243 n. 24 doubt (yi 疑): as crucial concern for Sima Qian, 18–19, 155–56; and distinction between common sense and popular knowledge, 4; and epistemic function of evidence, 73, 162; and informational quantity, 7, 22–23; interpersonal vs. epistemic, 31–33, 106–07; and peripherality of concrete “facts,” 151–52, 156–57, 166–70; 276 Dubious Facts and probable evidence, 100–03; and slander, 226 n. 6; successful management of, 93–97 eikos muthos (“probable” myth), 26–27 Emperor Wu of Han (Han Wudi, 漢武帝, 156–87 BCE): bowing to ministerial request, 225–26 n. 4; compared to First Emperor of Qin, 161; and need for moral esteem, 126; and Sima Qian’s historiographical project, 19 endoxa, 4, 23, 26 epistemic quality: alteration of, 91, 95; basis of, in Empress Lü’s address to Liu Bang, 100–101; of commonsense premises in debate between Su Qin and Zhang Yi, 89–91; of concrete particulars , 157–61; definition of, 6, 162; doubts about, relating to evidentiary propositions, 103, 162; and the fixity of moral ideas in the Han, 109; general basis, of categories of evidence, 164; indirection conditioning of, 52 epistemic weight: of concrete particulars, 165, 172; definition of, 6–7; factors involved in, 102–03; of Li Zuoche’s address, 163; moral aspect given, by Xiao Wangzhi,132–33; propositions not carrying, 104; of three general categories of evidence, 173 error: connected to perception of reality , 33, 140–43; historiographical, politics of, 16–20; leading to failure of an address, 95; of the monarch, for receiving honest appraisals, 151 evidence: analyzing its role in argument, 47, 73–76; and argumentational stereotypes, 6; in coherence theory of truth, 28; decorous indirect presentation of, 52–55; early Chinese scholars showing little concern for its accuracy, 14–15; endoxa as, 33; “fictions” as, 28–31; and Grice’s maxim of truthfulness , 6; moral, examples of, 134; not a crucial early Chinese historiographical concern, 18; not revealing gross ideological leanings of Han historians, 46; presentation of, and actual audience, 8; quality and weight of, in Intrigues debate, 89–91; quality and weight of, in persuasion of Liu Bang, 100–103; Sima Guang’s evaluation of, 16–18; and successful management of doubt, in Intrigues debate, 93–97; and the trustworthiness of its source, 107–08; use of, as diachronic, 5 facts. See concrete particulars; moral ‘facts’ fiction, and pre-modern historiography, 28–31 forms of address, 44–46 geographic details, accuracy of, 104–105, 235 n. 13 Grice, H. P., 6–7 Han Anguo 韓安國 (?–127 BCE): accentuation of the moral, 113, 118, 128–29, 135, 169; advocacy of strategic calculation, 120, 122–23...