The Position of Women in Chinese Intelectual History: Retrospective Views about the Value of Confucian Ethics for a Chinese Feminist Discourse
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37467/gka-revhuman.v3.725Keywords:
Cultural Studies, Confucianism, Ancient China, FeminismAbstract
This paper has the purpose of analyzing, through Confucian texts and its interpreters, the position of women in Classical Chinese Philosophy. First, it will be examine how the role of women in society was understood in the “Analects”, the ritual texts, the “Classic of Poetry” and the works of Mencius. Likewise, research will focus on how these passages, usually very short to offer a clear and unambiguous answer, have been treated by the Confucian interpreters, from Antiquity to the end of the Imperial Period. A thoughtful review will show that, although Confucianism did never develop a Philosophy of Gender and did not bother too much with this question, Confucian philosophers and interpreters were able to successfully challenge the “concience collective” and stress women’s position in history and society. Finally, through a brief comparative acknowledgment of what Classical Greek Philosophers had to say about women, we will conclude with some observations regarding the role of Confucianism in modern Asian societies and its relevance for the development of an indigenous feminist discourse.
References
Chan, E. y Chou, C. C. (2009). A Pragmatist and His Free Spirit: the half-century romance of Hu Shi & Edith Clifford Williams . Hong Kong: The Chinese Univeristy Press.
Chow, T. T. (1960). The May Fourth Movement. Intellectual Revolution in Modern China . Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Brooks, E. B. y Brooks A. T. (1998). The Original Analects. Sayings of Confucius and his Successors. Nueva York: Columbia University Press.
Elleman, B. A. (2002). Wilson and China: A Revised History of the Shandong Question . Nueva York: M.E. Sharpe.
Gao, H. (1980). Shijing jinzhu . Shanghai: Shanghai guji.
Gao, S. S. (1917). Nüzi wenti zhi da jiejue. Xin qingnian, 3 (3), 99-105 (original no numerado).
Guarde, C. (2012). Virtud y consecuencia en la literatura histórica y filosófica pre-Han y Han: el dilema ético en la filosofía y sociedad china . Tesis doctoral, Universidad de Barcelona, Barcelona.
Kang, Y. W. (1917). Lunyu zhu . Jingshi [Beijing]: Kangshi jiaokan ben.
Ko, D. (2005). Cinderella’s Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding . California: University of California Press.
Lao, Y. Q. (2010). Wen nei wen wai: Zhongguo sixiangshi zhong de jingdian quanshi . Taibei: Taiwan daxue chuban zhongxin.
Lau, D. C. (1992-2002). The Pre-Han and Han Concordance Series . Hong Kong: University Press.
Lee, T. (1950). The Doctor in Chinese Drama. Chinese Medical Journal, 68 , 34-43.
Li, C. Y. (2000). Can Confucianism Come to Terms with Confucianism? En Id. (Ed.), The Sage and the Second Sex: Confucianism, Ethics, and Gender (pp. 1-21). Illinois: Open Court.
Liang, Q. C. (1897). Nü xue. Shiwu bao, 23 , 1a-4a.
Liu, B. N. y Liu, G. M. (1866). Lunyu zhengyi . Hunan: Zeng Guangjun.
Loewe, M. (1993). Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide . Berkeley: The Society for the Study of Early China.
Qian, Z. S. (1998). Limited Views: Essays on Ideas and Letters . Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Raphals, L. (1998). Sharing the Light: Representations of Women and Virtue in Early China. Albany: SUNY.
Qian, Z. S. (2000). Gendered Virtue Reconsidered: Notes from the Warring States and Han. En Li C. Y. (Ed.), The Sage and the Second Sex: Confucianism, Ethics, and Gender (pp. 223-247). Illinois: Open Court.
Rosenlee, L. (2006). Confucianism and women: a philosophical interpretation . Albany: SUNY.
Tarumoto, T. (2009). Chin Dokushū no Pekin daigaku himen: ‘Rinjo enzai jiken bo’ hoi. En Id., Rinjo kenkyū ronshū (pp. 294-343). Ō tsu: Shinmatsu shō setsu kenkyū kai.
Viereck, P. (1956). Conservatism. From John Adams to Churchill . Princeton: D. Van Nostrand.
Weston, T. B. (2004). The Power of Position . California: University of California Press.
Zeng, L. Y. (2013). ‘Nüzi wucai bian shi de’ zhi yuanchu yujing, houdai quanshi jiqi lishi yiyi shitan. Zhongguo wenxue yanjiu 35 , 97-136.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Those authors who publish in this journal accept the following terms:
- Authors will keep the moral right of the work and they will transfer the commercial rights.
- After 1 year from publication, the work shall thereafter be open access online on our website, but will retain copyright.
- In the event that the authors wish to assign an Creative Commons (CC) license, they may request it by writing to publishing@eagora.org
