Stingy King Meets Savvy Sage: Rethinking the Dialog between King Xuan of Qi and Mengzi.

While the traditional interpretation takes Mengzi 孟子 to be trying to persuade King Xuan 宣 of Qi 齊, I take him to be manipulating King Xuan with insincere flattery. My interpretation has several advantages. On the traditional interpretation, Mengzi is naïve about King Xuan's motives, and confused abo...

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Published in:Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 371 - 390
Main Author: Curzer, Howard
Format: Article
Published: Springer Nature Sep2020
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        atl: Stingy King Meets Savvy Sage: Rethinking the Dialog between King Xuan of Qi and Mengzi.
      aug:
        au: Curzer, Howard
        affil: Philosophy Department, Texas Tech University, 79409-3092, Lubbock, TX, USA
      su:
        Flattery
        Mencius, ca. 372 B.C.-ca. 289 B.C.
        Chinese philosophy
        Compassion
        Confucian philosophy
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          Flattery
          Mencius, ca. 372 B.C.-ca. 289 B.C.
          Chinese philosophy
          Compassion
          Confucian philosophy
      keyword:
        Extend compassion
        King Xuan 宣
        Mengzi 孟子
        Ox
        Virtue
      ab: While the traditional interpretation takes Mengzi 孟子 to be trying to persuade King Xuan 宣 of Qi 齊, I take him to be manipulating King Xuan with insincere flattery. My interpretation has several advantages. On the traditional interpretation, Mengzi is naïve about King Xuan's motives, and confused about basic aspects of his own views, but my interpretation makes Mengzi into a canny sage with a clear, comprehensive grasp of his doctrines. My interpretation also brings the dialog into harmony with the rest of the book, and with common sense on several points. It thus makes the dialog a more nuanced, coherent, and plausible work. Next, my interpretation shows Mengzi to possess a more complete list of virtues, and a longer list of character improvement strategies than is usually thought. Finally, by attributing to Mengzi a promising strategy for curing rulers prone to rages, lust, and greed, I show that Mengzi's work fills a pressing contemporary need.
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    language: English
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