Sage-King Naming Theory: A New Perspective on Understanding Xunzi’s Doctrine of the Rectification of Names
By focusing on Xunzi’s concept of the sage-king and the sage-king naming theory, a new interpretive perspective can be applied to Xunzi’s doctrine of the rectification of names. During the Warring States period, mainstream views among Confucian and Daoist scholars tended to interpret the sage-king a...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
MDPI
2024
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| In: |
Religions
Year: 2024, Volume: 15, Issue: 2 |
| Further subjects: | B
quilting point
B rectification of names B Legitimacy B Xunzi B sage-king |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | By focusing on Xunzi’s concept of the sage-king and the sage-king naming theory, a new interpretive perspective can be applied to Xunzi’s doctrine of the rectification of names. During the Warring States period, mainstream views among Confucian and Daoist scholars tended to interpret the sage-king as the bearer of Heaven or Dao. However, Xunzi follows the principle of the division between Heaven and humanity, asserting that the sage-king is entirely subordinate to the realm of humans, embodying the ideal order of Confucian community. In light of this concept of the sage-king, this paper aims to address two questions: first, where the legitimacy of the sage-king naming prerogative comes from, and second, how the sage-king, as the master-signifier, quilts all floating signifiers to ensure the publicity and normativity of names. Moral norms emerge from the sage-king’s projection of intentions and emotions onto external objects. Sage-king naming theory provides the prerequisite for the superassertibility of moral norms, limiting the potential arbitrariness and private interpretations of names and norms, which ensures the public and authoritative nature of the social discourse system, thereby endowing the sage-kings with legitimacy. As the quilting point and stopping point, the sage-king performs the totalization and prohibition by means of which the floating names and norms are fixed and become parts of the structured Confucian discourse of meaning. |
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| ISSN: | 2077-1444 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religions
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3390/rel15020177 |