The Idea of Non-verbal Rule in Early Warring States Thought and Its Incorporation into the Concept of Cheng
Author: Masayuki Sato
Abstract / Chinese PDF Download
In the course of development of political thought during the Warring States Period and Qin-Han Empires, our general impression is that aristocratic court decorum was replaced by positive law. On the other hand, however, disbelief in verbal order by rulers has been expressed in various Warring States political discourses. Indeed, a group of thinkers believed that the establishment of a high level of morality would enable rulers to establish authority over the people without the help of any verbal decree. Interestingly, such ideas often appear in the newly excavated Guodian Bamboo texts. From this viewpoint, the paper will explicate several concepts and arguments that support the idea of such “non-verbal rule” mainly in the Guodian texts, and trace the process by which these ideas are crystallized into the idea of cheng (sincerity/co-creativity) in the mid-late Warring States and Qin-Han texts. In doing so, the author hopes that this research can delineate the process of theorization of main conceptual terms which were essential for the discussion of socio-political issues arising in Warring States political discourse.