Dèng Xīzǐ 鄧析子
Master Dèng Xī attributed to 鄧析 (Dèng Xī, ca. 545–501 BCE in legend, 周)
About the work
A one-juan Míngjiā (School of Names) and Fǎjiā (Legalist) classical text in 2 篇 — Wú hòu 無厚 (Without Thickness) and Zhuǎn cí 轉辭 (Turning Words) — pseudepigraphically attributed to Dèng Xī, the legendary Spring-and-Autumn-era Míngjiā thinker. The actual composition is universally Late Warring States or early Hàn. The work is brief but substantively important as one of the few pre-modern preservations of Míngjiā technical terminology and argumentative method.
Abstract
The Dèng Xīzǐ is one of the principal pre-modern preservations of the Míngjiā tradition. Composition window: late Warring States to early Hàn. The frontmatter brackets to ca. -300 to -100. The bibliographic record: Hàn shū yìwén zhì; Suí shū jīngjí zhì; SKQS Zǐbù — Fǎjiā lèi.
Translations and research
- A. C. Graham, Disputers of the Tao, Open Court, 1989, ch. III.5 — context for the Míng-jiā tradition.
- Wing-tsit Chan, Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, 1963 — partial translation.