Phonology and Human Difference in the Late Ming:

Chen Di's "Mao shi guyin kao zixu (Author's Preface to Investigation of the Ancient Pronunciations in the Mao Odes)" (1606)

Presenter: Leigh Jenco, London School of Economics and Political Science

Professor Jenco writes: My current research examines the overlooked connections between Wang Yangming learning (i.e., xinxue Confucianism) and empirical scholarship in the late Ming and early Qing. The philosophical agendas of Wang Yangming—notable for their reliance on the subjective and inward-looking sources of moral knowledge, rather than on empirical investigation of the external world that earlier neo-Confucians held to be the primary means for learning moral truth—are typically seen as discouraging scholars from engaging in the kind of text-critical historical analysis that would flourish a century later under the banner of kaozheng (evidential research). To the contrary, I try to show that Wang’s doctrines motivated empirical research in a specific way, that lends new insight into how and why empirical investigation was undertaken in late imperial China. Chen's groundbreaking investigation of the Mao Odes (published around 1606) was built on the pioneering insight that ancient pronunciations of words in the Odes classic differed from contemporary pronunciation, a thesis which Chen meticulously defended through a systematic reconstruction of rhyme patterns. This text was heralded by later Qing kaozheng scholars and modern commentators as a paragon of proto-scientific empiricism in early modern China. Yet Chen's own preface to this work shows that it was in fact his commitment to an ideal of virtue as embodied and responsive to context, upheld by the Taizhou school associated with Wang Yangming, that inspired him to recognize the possibility of historical and phonological difference.

All are welcome, with any level of experience with classical Chinese.

At each session, a participant presents a classical Chinese text. Attendees discuss historical, literary, linguistic, and other aspects of the text, working together to resolve difficulties in comprehension and translation.

No preparation is required, all texts will be distributed at the meeting.Contact eap-guwen@cornell.edu for more information.Or subscribe to CCCC news for updates about events. Please make sure to send your subscription request from the email address at which you wish to receive CCCC updates.