Xu Gan's concept of the name and actuality relationship and its philosophical and social background

Abstract

I first began research on the late Eastern Han (25-220 AD) philosopher Xu Gan (170-217) in 1983. The initial result of this work was an annotated translation of his Zhong lun Discourse That Hits the Mark. Zhong lun is a collection of essays that are predominantly concerned with philosophical questions. As a whole, the text can be best described as an enquiry into the causes of political and social breakdown and the presentation of various ethical and political remedies. Much of Xu Gan’ s argumentation appeals to the authority of traditional Confucian ethics; indeed the work is classified under ru jia in all bibliographical lists of the standard histories, except for that of Song shi, where it is listed among miscellaneous writers. Even though in some of the twenty-two pian that comprise Zhong lun a range of influences may be discerned that derive from non-Confucian sources, for a Han dynasty {206 BC-220 AD) writing it is remarkably free of the overt eclecticism that characterizes many writings of that period...