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The development of ren (仁) in early Chinese philosophy Curtis, Robin Elliott

Abstract

This thesis describes the development of the Chinese virtue ren 仁 from its earliest recorded occurrences around 1000 BCE to its use in the Song dynasty around 1200 CE, asking the questions: 1) How did the meanings of ren change over time; and 2) How does quantitative textual analysis affect our understanding of ren? I argue that the earliest recorded meaning of ren was most likely “manliness” in the Western Zhou dynasty, that it later came to mean “Goodness,” followed by “benevolence” during the Warring States period, and that by the end of the Song dynasty, it meant transcendental “humanity.” Quantitative textual analysis affects our understanding of ren by supporting and qualifying existing theories, and also by illuminating new areas of research.

Item Metadata

Title
The development of ren (仁) in early Chinese philosophy
Creator
Curtis, Robin Elliott
Publisher
University of British Columbia
Date Issued
2016
Description
This thesis describes the development of the Chinese virtue ren 仁 from its earliest recorded occurrences around 1000 BCE to its use in the Song dynasty around 1200 CE, asking the questions: 1) How did the meanings of ren change over time; and 2) How does quantitative textual analysis affect our understanding of ren? I argue that the earliest recorded meaning of ren was most likely “manliness” in the Western Zhou dynasty, that it later came to mean “Goodness,” followed by “benevolence” during the Warring States period, and that by the end of the Song dynasty, it meant transcendental “humanity.” Quantitative textual analysis affects our understanding of ren by supporting and qualifying existing theories, and also by illuminating new areas of research.
Genre
Thesis/Dissertation
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2016-05-03
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0300423
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/58024
Degree
Master of Arts - MA
Program
Asian Studies
Affiliation
Arts, Faculty of; Asian Studies, Department of
Degree Grantor
University of British Columbia
Graduation Date
2016-09
Campus
UBCV
Scholarly Level
Graduate
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository
DSpace

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International