Following the Way of the Ancient Kings: The Concept of “Learning” in the Teachings of Ogyū Sorai
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2017.5.2.139-151Keywords:
Ogyū Sorai, Tokugawa Confucianism, learning, way of the ancient kings, sagesAbstract
Ogyū Sorai conceptualizes “learning” as the study of the way of the ancient kings. The way thus represents the rites, music, penal laws and administrative systems which the ancient kings established. Making faith in the sages the foundation of learning, Sorai designates the ancient kings as intermediaries between the ordering activity of heaven and human society. This article tries to examine some of the implications of such a conceptualization, both for the proposed system of social organization as well as for Sorai’s own project of elucidating the way.
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References
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Wildman Nakai, Kate. 1980. “The Naturalization of Confucianism in Tokugawa Japan: The Problem of Sinocentrism.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 40 (1), Jun.: 157–99. Accessed January 14, 2017. http://www.jstor.org/ stable/2718919.
Chunqiu Zuozhuan 春秋左傳 (The Chronicle of Zuo). 2017. In Chinese Text Project. Accessed January 14, 2017. http://ctext.org/chun–qiu-zuo-zhuan.
Liji 禮記 (Book of Rites). 2017. In Chinese Text Project. Accessed January 14, 2017. http://ctext.org/liji.
Mengzi 孟子 (Mencius). 2017. In Chinese Text Project. Accessed January 14, 2017. http://ctext.org/mengzi.
Ogyū, Sorai 荻生徂徠. 1974 (1973). Nihon shisō taikei 36. Ogyū Sorai. 日本思想 体系３６・荻生徂徠. (The System of Japanese Thought 36. Ogyū Sorai). Tōkyō: Iwanami shoten.
Ogyū, Sorai. 2006. Ogyū Sorai’s Philosophical Masterworks. Translated and edited by John Tucker. Honolulu: Association for Asian Studies, University of Hawai’i Press (Asian Interactions and Comparisons).
Shijing 詩經 (Book of Poetry). 2017. In Chinese Text Project. Accessed January 14, 2017. http://ctext.org/book-of-poetry.
Wildman Nakai, Kate. 1980. “The Naturalization of Confucianism in Tokugawa Japan: The Problem of Sinocentrism.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 40 (1), Jun.: 157–99. Accessed January 14, 2017. http://www.jstor.org/ stable/2718919.
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Published
30. 06. 2017
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Broader Perspectives
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Copyright (c) 2017 Marko Ogrizek
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
OGRIZEK, Marko. 2017. “Following the Way of the Ancient Kings: The Concept of ‘Learning’ in the Teachings of Ogyū Sorai”. Asian Studies 5 (2): 139-51. https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2017.5.2.139-151.
