Herrlee Glessner Creel (1905–1994)

Published in 1953, this book is a bit dated, but it’s a good, brief and readable synopsis of Chinese philosophy’s history and main concepts. It starts off a bit weakly, with rather broad generalizations about Chinese thought and culture and a less-than critical take on Confucius, apparently treating the entire Analects as representing reliable records of his statements. It’s generally believed these were compiled over a long period, with some material neither originating with Confucius nor representing his thought. A couple chapters are markedly Taoist and even anti-Confucian, but Creel only mentions them in passing, suggesting they can be reconciled with Confucian thought. It’s hard to see how, but Creel doesn’t elaborate. No doubt Creel knew his subject well and the simplistic impression is due to brevity, but a caveat or two would have helped.

However, Creel becomes considerably more critical regarding both texts and concepts as he moves on to Mo Tzu, Mencius, the Taoists, Hsun Tzu, the Legalists, etc. There’s still simplification, but this can’t be avoided in such a short work, and his combining philosophical with political history is quite helpful. This is particularly true as Chinese philosophy has often had a pronounced political orientation (even Taoism, in reacting against this focus), as many of the leading thinkers served in government or aspired to, and as the state and emperors have typically aligned themselves publicly with a particular philosophy (with varying degrees of sincerity).

Another strength is the book’s inclusion of post-classical philosophy, continuing through the Communist state’s establishment. It’s hard to find brief, popular works on Chinese philosophy that cover its entire history, much less ones that do it well and place ideas in historical and political context (Fung Yu-Lan’s Short History may be another, but I’ve just started it). Necessarily the result is a synopsis rather than treatment in depth, but Creel does this quite well. In little space he sheds considerable light on the philosophical eclecticism of the Han Dynasty, Buddhism’s introduction to China and its evolution and impacts there, neo-Confucianism, reactions against it, and Western influence.

This background is helpful in trying to understand China’s difficulties and struggles during the twentieth century, and Creel gives a very plausible explanation for the quick and fairly widespread acceptance of Communism by both the Chinese people and the intellectuals. At the end of the book he lapses again into some breezy generalizations and perhaps a touch of romanticizing, although not without some useful insights. Overall it’s a very good book and one wishes Creel were available for a final word on China today.
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'This volume will be very helpful to the students at the intermediate and advanced levels of understanding of Chinese cultural history. It is well written, superbly researched, and affords one of the first detailed views of Taoism's relationship to governmental patterns as then developed in the late Chou, Ch'in and Han dynasties.'-Choice

What is Taoism? traces, in nontechnical language, the history of the development of this often baffling doctrine. Creel shows that there has not been one 'Taoism,' but at least three, in some respects incompatible and often antagonistic to each other. In eight closley related papers, Creel explicates the widely used concepts he originally introduced of 'Contemplative Taoism,' 'purposive Taoism.' and 'Hsien Taoism.' He also discusses Shen Pu-hai, a political philosopher of the fourth century B.C.; the curious interplay between Confucianism, Taoism, and 'Legalism' in the second century B.C.; and the role of the horse in Chinese history.

'This collection of eight papers moves with ease and facility within the scope of Chinese history and culture, and should be of considerable importance to scholars interested in this field.'-William C. Finley, Philosophy East and West

Herrlee G. Creel is the Martin A. Ryerson distinguished Service Profesor Emeritus of Chinese History at the University of Chicago, and a past president of the American Oriental Society (1955-56). He is the author of many books, incuding Chinese Thought from Confucious to Mao Tse-tung, The Origins of Statecraft in China, and Shen Pu-hai: A Chinese Political Philosopher of the Fourth Century B.C.

Contents

Preface
1 What is Taoism?
2 The great clod
3 On two aspects in early Taoism
4 On the origin of Wu-wei
5 The meaning of Hsing-ming
6 The Fa-chia: 'Legalists' or 'Adminstrators'?
7 The beginnings of Bureaucracy in China: the origin of the Hsien
8 The role of the horse in Chinese history
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