Powerful Arguments: Standards of Validity in Late Imperial ChinaThe essays in Powerful Arguments reconstruct the standards of validity underlying argumentative practices in a wide array of late imperial Chinese discourses, from the Song through the Qing dynasties. The fourteen case studies analyze concrete arguments defended or contested in areas ranging from historiography, philosophy, law, and religion to natural studies, literature, and the civil examination system. By examining uses of evidence, habits of inference, and the criteria by which some arguments were judged to be more persuasive than others, the contributions recreate distinct cultures of reasoning. Together, they lay the foundations for a history of argumentative practice in one of the richest scholarly traditions outside of Europe and add a chapter to the as yet elusive global history of rationality. |
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Powerful Arguments: Standards of Validity in Late Imperial China Martin Hofmann,Joachim Kurtz,Ari Daniel Levine No preview available - 2020 |
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according ancient antiquity appear argued arguments authority Ban Gu Beijing body Book Cambridge candidates century Changes chapter characters China Chinese chubanshe claim Classics Collection combinations commentaries compilers complete Confucian court cultural discussion Documents dynasty early edition Emperor essay evidence examination example explanation Figure Five four Harvard Heaven History Illustrations Imperial China included inscriptions interpretation Jesuits knowledge Late Imperial later learning lines literary logical Long marks material mathematical matter meaning measure method Ming moral nature objects official original Ouyang Ouyi period pitch political practice present principles printed provincial Qian Qing readers reading reasoning Records reign repr rhetorical River scholars Science silver Song standards Studies style success textual tion traditional translation truth University Press validity Veritable Records visual Wang Western writing Zhang Zhonghua shuju