Thanks for writing, Alice. This is fantastic and is exactly what I'd like to see more of on the internet. I'd love to read more of your favorite passages -- maybe even an addendum to this that is just "selected passages from Chinese history and philosophy, with some context."
translated, but I'll consult the original for passages that are important or obscure. I know enough mandarin to retain/distinguish hanzi but I don't have a background in classical chinese unfortunately
Does he, though? There’s no direct influence in either direction (very little Chinese writing in Europe in Hegel’s day) so it seems better to try to understand the system on its own terms.
Alice, could you explain the idea that there is “no program to train wisdom” further? I’m having a hard time with that. If wisdom must be “hard-won by experience,” then why can’t one just deliberately engage in new and/or practiced experiences? For example, I use athletic activities to train my embodied intuition, hoping it’ll lead to greater wisdom. It seems to work for me: e.g., aerial arts increases my courage and discernment about risks and safety, and muay thai increases my capacity for assertiveness and protection.
Glad I came across your writings. I’m just going through all of your Xunzi posts now. This stuff gives me hope. A society based around virtue sounds amazing.
Bravo! This kinda makes me think of the whole Zapatista thing about "building a world in which many worlds can fit." It truly is an under-appreciated idea that you bring up here about how the possibility of building this kind of society fluent in both communal-ties/organizational-competency is very much dependent on more people learning how to operate/think-in-terms-of complex resource distribution and small-scale governance rather than just... vibes. I think a lot of modern activism and political thinking (well intentioned as it is) hinges on sloganeering and "we'll figure it out later" hand-waving-- as opposed to actually getting down to the nitty-gritty type stuff you're talking about in this essay. Administration isn't sexy-- but we gotta do it! The film-dweeb in me can't help but make the analogy here that the future could stand to look less like a Godard flick and more like "Shōgun" (2024)😂.
Thanks for writing, Alice. This is fantastic and is exactly what I'd like to see more of on the internet. I'd love to read more of your favorite passages -- maybe even an addendum to this that is just "selected passages from Chinese history and philosophy, with some context."
oh i just saw this one, fantastic. https://alicemaz.substack.com/p/toward-a-system-of-neo-xunism
woah! are you a china studies scholar? fascinating deep dive
haha I'm a programmer by trade, this is more of a hobby
How are you studying the xunzi? Via translated texts or the original?
translated, but I'll consult the original for passages that are important or obscure. I know enough mandarin to retain/distinguish hanzi but I don't have a background in classical chinese unfortunately
You studying this full time? This is good stuff
Hegel casts his shadow over all the ideas in this brilliant piece
Does he, though? There’s no direct influence in either direction (very little Chinese writing in Europe in Hegel’s day) so it seems better to try to understand the system on its own terms.
Alice, could you explain the idea that there is “no program to train wisdom” further? I’m having a hard time with that. If wisdom must be “hard-won by experience,” then why can’t one just deliberately engage in new and/or practiced experiences? For example, I use athletic activities to train my embodied intuition, hoping it’ll lead to greater wisdom. It seems to work for me: e.g., aerial arts increases my courage and discernment about risks and safety, and muay thai increases my capacity for assertiveness and protection.
Glad I came across your writings. I’m just going through all of your Xunzi posts now. This stuff gives me hope. A society based around virtue sounds amazing.
Aw man, now I have a new philosopher to look-up and be obsessed with. Thank you for the introduction to Xunzi!
Bravo! This kinda makes me think of the whole Zapatista thing about "building a world in which many worlds can fit." It truly is an under-appreciated idea that you bring up here about how the possibility of building this kind of society fluent in both communal-ties/organizational-competency is very much dependent on more people learning how to operate/think-in-terms-of complex resource distribution and small-scale governance rather than just... vibes. I think a lot of modern activism and political thinking (well intentioned as it is) hinges on sloganeering and "we'll figure it out later" hand-waving-- as opposed to actually getting down to the nitty-gritty type stuff you're talking about in this essay. Administration isn't sexy-- but we gotta do it! The film-dweeb in me can't help but make the analogy here that the future could stand to look less like a Godard flick and more like "Shōgun" (2024)😂.