SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The "Chu Shu" chapter of the Huai Nan Tzu, because of its frequent use of Fa-chia terminology and allusions, has often been characterized as a Fa-chia document. While first impressions do suggest a Fa-chia oriented political philosophy, a more careful study of the sources and perspective of its basic precepts demonstrates that this is not the case. By isolating the main concepts and themes dealt with in this chapter and comparing them with their pre-Ch'in antecedents, we are able to ascertain both the debt owed to the earlier traditions and the orientation of the "Chu Shu" political theory relative to these earlier schools of thought. In the preparation of this thesis, the first step is to identify and isolate the most important concepts in the "Chu Shu" chapter. Secondly, we trace the origins and evolution of each of these concepts through pre-Han sources to determine their development- and significance. With a reasonably confident understanding of the historical significance of these concepts at hand, we then analyze the "Chu Shu" interpretation, and undertake a detailed comparison between the historical concept and its "Chu Shu" counterpart. In so doing, we have been able to locate the sources and to determine the orientation of the "Chu Shu" chapter's political thought. Appendix I contains an annotated translation of the "Chu Shu" chapter. In Appendix II we examine the usage of fa in texts prior to the emergence of the Fa-chia school, and conclude that only well into the Warring States period when the Fa-chia theorists had taken over this character and injected it. with their own meaning did it come to connote "penal law". Finally, in Appendix III we attempt to demonstrate that the final portion of this "Chu Shu" chapter is a later accretion.