Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Argument in Ancient China

Rating:
Summary: cobbled together from scraps...of mastery
Review: A. C. Graham (1919-1991) is easily the most revered [western] figure in the history of Chinese philosophy scholarship. He introduced so many innovations, and with such rigor and vision, that he literally redefined the field. Many consider his 1978 masterpiece, _Later Mohist Logic, Ethics, and Science_, the most important book on ChinPhil ever published. His work, while admittedly obsolete in some respects, remains a baseline to this day.

Graham was trained as an analytic philosopher, but his treatments of ChinPhil always take philology and textual analysis as their ground. His attention rested equally on fine points of textual interpretation and on philosophical implications. Given that so much stands between 20th-century scholars and 5th-2nd-century BC thinkers, this is exactly what we need. Prior to Graham, many lenses had been used to interpret classical ChinPhil, but they tended to be either non-Chinese (Buddhist, Platonic) or anachronistic (xuanxue, Neo-Confucian). The traditional tendency in China has not been to highlight the uniqueness of individual thinkers and the development of discourse, but rather to attribute ideas to a sagely lineage stretching back into prehistory. Eleventh-century Neo-Confucians--of whom late imperial scholars are the direct inheritors--were quite content to believe they were elucidating the true import of Confucius, Mencius, and of course the much earlier sage kings. Wang Bi and Guo Xiang remained the 'official interpreters' of the Daoist classics for centuries. In each case these later thinkers were in fact producing very new ideas, but themselves glossed over this fact or preferred to believe otherwise. Twentieth-century scholarship, mainly western and in respectable part motivated by Graham, has exploded many received myths of classical ChinPhil--that Mencius 'got' Confucius while Xunzi did not, that Zhuangzi was a follower of (the nonexistent) Laozi, that the Mohists and Legalists had nothing of value to say, that the logicians Hui Shi and Gongsun Long were mere flippant sophists. Graham has been instrumental in enabling us to assess these texts *on their own terms*, and not from some standpoint unsuitably removed in time or space.

Wow, got a little tangential! No matter: it demonstrates my enthusiasm for Graham's work. While far from 'definitive' in any lasting sense, it is *essential* and foundational reading.

Unfortunately for this review, _Disputers of the Tao_ is less a stand-alone volume than a sort of summa of Graham's many other books and articles. Previous reviewers have mentioned formal/editorial problems, and these do exist. Insofar as Graham goes into much greater detail elsewhere, _Disputers of the Tao_ should, I think, be seen as an introduction only.

Rating:
Summary: cobbled together from scraps...of mastery
Review: A. C. Graham (1919-1991) is easily the most revered [western] figure in the history of Chinese philosophy scholarship. He introduced so many innovations, and with such rigor and vision, that he literally redefined the field. Many consider his 1978 masterpiece, _Later Mohist Logic, Ethics, and Science_, the most important book on ChinPhil ever published. His work, while admittedly obsolete in some respects, remains a baseline to this day.

Graham was trained as an analytic philosopher, but his treatments of ChinPhil always take philology and textual analysis as their ground. His attention rested equally on fine points of textual interpretation and on philosophical implications. Given that so much stands between 20th-century scholars and 5th-2nd-century BC thinkers, this is exactly what we need. Prior to Graham, many lenses had been used to interpret classical ChinPhil, but they tended to be either non-Chinese (Buddhist, Platonic) or anachronistic (xuanxue, Neo-Confucian). The traditional tendency in China has not been to highlight the uniqueness of individual thinkers and the development of discourse, but rather to attribute ideas to a sagely lineage stretching back into prehistory. Eleventh-century Neo-Confucians--of whom late imperial scholars are the direct inheritors--were quite content to believe they were elucidating the true import of Confucius, Mencius, and of course the much earlier sage kings. Wang Bi and Guo Xiang remained the 'official interpreters' of the Daoist classics for centuries. In each case these later thinkers were in fact producing very new ideas, but themselves glossed over this fact or preferred to believe otherwise. Twentieth-century scholarship, mainly western and in respectable part motivated by Graham, has exploded many received myths of classical ChinPhil--that Mencius 'got' Confucius while Xunzi did not, that Zhuangzi was a follower of (the nonexistent) Laozi, that the Mohists and Legalists had nothing of value to say, that the logicians Hui Shi and Gongsun Long were mere flippant sophists. Graham has been instrumental in enabling us to assess these texts *on their own terms*, and not from some standpoint unsuitably removed in time or space.

Wow, got a little tangential! No matter: it demonstrates my enthusiasm for Graham's work. While far from 'definitive' in any lasting sense, it is *essential* and foundational reading.

Unfortunately for this review, _Disputers of the Tao_ is less a stand-alone volume than a sort of summa of Graham's many other books and articles. Previous reviewers have mentioned formal/editorial problems, and these do exist. Insofar as Graham goes into much greater detail elsewhere, _Disputers of the Tao_ should, I think, be seen as an introduction only.

Rating:
Summary: An awful introduction to philosophical argument in China.
Review: A. C. Graham's "Disputers of the Tao" is an excellent introduction to pre-Qin philosophical argumentation. I would highly recommend it for personal study; it would serve well as a textbook for an advanced-level seminar in Chinese thought. The chapter on "The Cosmologists" has a thought-provoking response to the oft-debated question of why, after such a promising, world-leading start in science, the Chinese fell behind the West in later centuries of the Common Era. My major criticism of this book is that the editing could have been a lot tighter: there are a number of inelegant and often nearly incomprehensible sentences. Perhaps it was thought to honor Professor Graham by giving him free rein to his personal expression, but if so, that was a mistake. Otherwise, this is a wonderful book.

Rating:
Summary: A classic study
Review: A.C. Graham's Disputers of the Tao became an instant classic when it was published in 1989. Graham was the foremost scholar in his field in his day, and this book is still the standard study of early Chinese philosophy. (My understanding was that this title is out of print, so if it is still available, snatch it up quickly.)

However, the book is becoming more and more out of date with every passing year. This process of obsolescence is not due to any fault in the work itself, but to the continual discovery of new texts that Graham could not have taken into account, and to the improvement in our understanding of the received texts that the new ones have made possible.

Rating:
Summary: An awful introduction to philosophical argument in China.
Review: I had high expectations for this book. However it's language and syntax is horrible. The language is heavy, boring and badly written. One should not think that something like this would be given out by any publisher.(Hopefully a better book on philosophical in ancient china will be written soon)
The author also tends to quote throughout an amount of sites, but without any good explanations or lack of any explanations at all this is totally useless. And if you are beginner to philosophical argument in China you are ought to lay of this book. Graham writes about things extremely more heavyily and complex than they really are. So my advice is to searh for another book. You will spare both time, frustration and money.
This book gives the history of China a bad name.