The politics of historical vision: Use of the past in the Analects
| Published date | 01 October 2017 |
| Date | 01 October 2017 |
| Author | Youngmin Kim |
| DOI | 10.1177/1474885117703769 |
| Subject Matter | Special Issue Articles |
European Journal of Political Theory
2017, Vol. 16(4) 392–410
!The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/1474885117703769
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EJPT
Article
The politics of historical
vision: Use of the past
in the Analects
Youngmin Kim
Seoul National University, Korea
Abstract
This paper is about how the historical vision of Confucius was constructed in the
Analects of Confucius. This analysis concentrates on its particular aspects like the
notion of Zhou (1046–256 BCE) – the historical dynasty from which Confucius takes
much of his guidance on culture, virtue, and refinement. The first part of this paper is to
open up a space for a multidimensional and conceptually rich approach to what we
might call Confucius’ ‘vision of history’. It challenges some problematic assumptions and
approaches that have constituted an obstacle to inquiry into the study of Confucius’
thought – among them, the idea that Confucius was a ‘traditionalist’ who sought to
bring back the ritual practices of the early Zhou. Then, I proceed to present a fine-
grained textual analysis of the Analects and consider some broader conceptual issues
involved in it. In particular, I argue that Confucius’recognition of meta-knowing infuses
the subject with new depths, which link Confucian ritual performance with agency and
self-consciousness. In the next section, by establishing as an object of inquiry the
imaginary category of ‘Zhou’, rather than the ‘factual’, evidentiary category of ‘Zhou’,
I position Confucius’s vision in a comprehensive discussion of political identity.
Keywords
Confucianism, China, history, Analects, political theory
Introduction
This paper is about how the historical vision of Confucius was constructed in the
Analects of Confucius (henceforth, the Analects) and how it provided resources for
the ways in which, over time, political actors in China and other parts of East Asia
fashioned their political power and identity. This analysis does not of course pre-
tend to be a comprehensive history of the historical vision, but concentrate on its
Corresponding author:
YoungminKim, College of Social Sciences, Seoul National University, 599 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-ku, Seoul 151-
746, Korea.
Email: brynmawrkim@gmail.com
particular aspects like the notion of Zhou ( , 1046–256 BCE) – the historical
dynasty from which Confucius takes much of his guidance on culture, virtue,
and refinement.
Before proceeding some qualifications are in order, it should be emphasised at
the outset that this paper is not about the thinking of Confucius as a real person,
but about the representation of his vision in the Analects. In other words, rather
than Confucius’ thinking, my subject matter is the historical vision of Confucius as
it can be reconstructed from the Analects, as it has been transmitted by compilers
and editors. One may wonder whether the Analects or what can be reconstructed
from the Analects fully represents Confucius’ view. In the first place, as Confucius
lived at a time before written books existed, his teachings were first orally trans-
mitted and then written down. One may raise a question about whether compilers
and/or editors introduced new elements to the text. One may raise the issues of
attribution and dating that are central to current historical scholarship. One may
even raise doubts about the authenticity of the received Analects as such. These
issues and questions are legitimate for their own sake in dealing with such early
texts as the Analects. It was especially so in the situation that new manuscripts have
been being excavated in China.
These issues, however, will not be dealt with here. The task of this paper is to take
seriously portions of the Analects not because they are the authentic product of
Confucius but because they have been transmitted for such a long time regardless
of whether they are authentic. Although historical evidence is important, I seek less to
challenge the received text with new evidence than to confront it with a new question.
In short, the Confucius under scrutiny in this paper is the representa tion of Confucius
in the version of Analects that has been most widely transmitted to us. Perhaps I
should place Confucius in quotation marks to remind readers that it is a representa-
tional object. However, for convenience, I speak of the way Confuc ius viewed things,
without retaining quotation marks around the word ‘Confucius’ henc eforth.
The first part of this paper is to open up a space for a multidimensional and
conceptually rich approach to what we might call Confucius’ ‘vision of history’. It
challenges some problematic assumptions and approaches that have constituted an
obstacle to inquiry into the study of Confucius’ thought – among them, the idea
that Confucius was a ‘traditionalist’ who sought to bring back the ritual practices
of the early Zhou. It also takes on, more specifically, the dismissive attitude
towards the realm of what Lothar von Falkenhausen terms ‘fantasy’ or ‘fiction’
in the consideration of Confucius’ ideas. Then, I proceed to present a fine-grained
textual analysis of the Analects and consider some broader conceptual issues
involved in it. In particular, I argue that Confucius’ recognition of meta-knowing
infuses the subject with new depths, which link Confucian ritual performance with
agency and self-consciousness. In the next section, by establishing as an object of
inquiry the imaginary category of ‘Zhou’, rather than the ‘factual’, evidentiary
category of ‘Zhou’, I position Confucius’s vision in a comprehensive discussion
of political identity. Confucius’ vision indeed left a durable imprint on the subse-
quent history of East Asia, as political actors who followed Confucius tapped the
rich resources of the conceptual Zhou.
Kim 393
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