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= Zisi =
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Introduction
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Zisi (), born Kong Ji, was a Chinese philosopher and the grandson of
Confucius.
Intellectual genealogy, teaching, criticism
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Zisi was the son of Kong Li (孔鯉) (Boyu (伯鱼)) and the only grandson of
Confucius. He is traditionally accredited with transmitting Confucian
teaching to Mencius and writing the 'Doctrine of the Mean', 'Biaoji'
表記, "Ziyi" (The Black Robes") 緇衣, and "Fangji" (The Record of the
Dikes) 坊記, presently chapters of the 'Liji'. (Since Zisi's dates of
life do not overlap with those of Mengzi, it has been suggested that
the intermediary role in the transmission was played by Shi Shuo 世碩.)
Where his grandfather began to distinguish between true and supposed
knowledge, Zisi proceeded upon meditations on the relativity in human
knowledge of the universe. He attempted to analyse as many types of
action as possible, and believed that wise people who are conscious of
their moral and intellectual duties can copy the reality of the
universe into themselves.
On par with Mencius, Zisi is attacked by Xunzi in his famous "Against
Twelve Masters" chapter. The target of Xunzi's attack is the Wuxing
teaching. According to Zhang Binglin (1868-1936), Zisi attempted
combining Confucian teaching with the principles of numerology. Li
Xueqin suggests that it was done under influence of the text presently
constituting the "Great Plan" (Hongfan) chapter of the 'Shangshu'.
The extant version of the book of the same name is ascribed to Zisi.
It was compiled by Wang Zhuo (汪晫 Wāng Zhuó) of the Song dynasty, but
not recognized as authentic. The more reliable edition was made by
Huang Yizhou (1828-1899), drawing the references from Shen Yue
(441-513). According to Huang Yizhou, some aspects of Zisi's thinking
are paralleled by the 'Huainanzi'.
Recent discoveries
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*Wuxing (text), a recent archeological discovery providing new insight
into Zisi's teaching.
*'Duke Mu of Lu Asks Zisi' 《魯穆公問子思》, a Guodian text relating about the
concept of the "loyal minister" 忠臣 through the dialogue between Zisi
and the young Duke Mu (d. 377 BCE).
See also
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*Zengzi, the purported author of the Great Learning. The 'Great
Learning' and Zisi's 'Doctrine of the Mean', two of the Four Books,
constituted the foundation of the Confucian orthodoxy.
References
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* Pan, Fuen,
[
https://web.archive.org/web/20070929095925/http://203.72.198.245/web/Content.asp?ID=58218&Query=1
"Zisi"]. 'Encyclopedia of China' (Philosophy Edition), 1st ed.
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Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zisi
