The rise of individual personhood in early medieval China

Sernelj, Tea (author)

The term “Early Medieval China” usually refers to the Wei Jin period, also known as the Wei Jin Southern and Northern dynasties (Wei Jin Nanbei chao魏晉南北朝). This era was characterized by extreme sociopolitical circumstances, marked by constant instabil-ity, upheavals, wars, corruption, intrigues, external invasions and the exhaustion of the population. These conditions led to significant and unprecedented social and intellectual transformations that profoundly impacted Chinese culture, especially in the fields of phi-losophy and art. This article explores the cultural and philosophical ideas of the period that contributed to the rise of individual personhood, which emerged as a response to the suppressive and authoritarian Han Confucianism, which was heavily influenced by Le-galist doctrines. Neo-Daoism, the most important stream of thought that arose from the political turmoil of the period, provided intellectuals with a refuge during these traumatic times, allowing them to explore new ways of philosophizing and experiencing an aesthetic way of living. The article examines the philosophical inquiries of the School of Profound Learning (Xuanxue玄學) and Pure Conversations (Qingtan清談) movement, which gave rise to self-awareness and fostered new perspectives on individual personhood.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Wei Jin Period, Neo-Daoism, Profound Learning (Xuanxue玄學) and Pure Conversations (Qingtan清談), Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, individual personhood
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.01.2024
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: Str. 131-149
• Numbering: Vol. 12 (28), iss. 3
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-164281
• UDC: 1(510)
• ISSN on article: 2232-5131
• COBISS.SI-ID: 208076803
• Publication date in RUL: 18.10.2024

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Asian studies
• Publisher: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2232-5131
• COBISS.SI-ID: 265206272

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Vznik individualne osebnosti na Kitajskem v zgodnjem srednjem veku

Abstract

Izraz »zgodnjesrednjeveška Kitajska« se običajno nanaša na obdobje Wei Jin, znano tudi kot obdobje Wei Jin ter južnih in severnih dinastij (Wei Jin Nanbei chao魏晉南北朝). Za to obdobje so bile značilne ekstremne družbenopolitične razmere, zaznamovane s stalno nestabilnostjo, pretresi, vojnami, korupcijo, spletkami, zunanjimi vdori in izčrpavanjem prebivalstva. Te okoliščine so pripeljale do izjemno pomembnih družbenih in intelektu-alnih preobrazb, ki so močno vplivale na kitajsko kulturo, zlasti na področju filozofije in umetnosti. Članek raziskuje kulturne in filozofske ideje tega obdobja, ki so prispevale k vzniku individualne osebnosti, ki je nastala kot odgovor na zatiralski in avtoritarni hanski konfucianizem, na katerega so močno vplivale legalistične doktrine. Neodaoizem, najpo-membnejši miselni tok, ki je izhajal iz družbenopolitičnih pretresov tega obdobja, je inte-lektualcem v teh travmatičnih časih dajal zatočišče ter jim omogočal raziskovanje novih načinov filozofiranja in doživljanja estetskega načina življenja. Članek proučuje filozofska raziskovanja šole misterijev (Xuanxue玄學) in gibanja čistih pogovorov (Qingtan清談), ki so spodbudila samozavedanje in nov pogled na individualno osebnost.

• Keywords: obdobje Wei Jin, neodaoizem, šola misterijev (Xuanxue玄學) in čisti pogovori (Qingtan清談), sedem modrecev iz bambusovega gaja, individualna osebnost