After Confucius, Studies in Early Chinese Philosophy, Studies in Early Chinese Philosophy

Author

Paul R. Goldin

Year

2005

Publisher

University of Hawai'i Press

Language

English

Pages

ISBN

978-0-82482-842-4

Link

Last Update

31-Mar-2026

Keywords

Philosophy

Description

Let us suppose that two men who otherwise engage in no “social relation”—for example, two uncivilized men of different races, or a European who encounters a native in darkest Africa—meet and “exchange” two objects. We are inclined to think that a mere description of what can be observed during this exchange—muscular movements and, if some words were “spoken,” the sounds which, so to say, constitute the “matter” or “material” of the behavior—would in no sense comprehend the “essence” of what happens. This is quite...