Erica Fox Brindley
Biographic Data
| ID | 1352352 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Erica Fox Brindley |
| GIVEN NAMES | Erica Fox |
| FAMILY NAME | Brindley |
| SIGNATURE | BRINDLEY E F |
| AFFILIATIONS | Pennsylvania State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5555-6458 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 6 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 22 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Deconstructing “Hedonism”
China’s South and Beyond
The Concept of “Educational Transformation” and its Relationship to Civilizing Missions in Early China
This article examines the early history and evolution of the concept of jiaohua (教化 “educational transformation”) as a reference to civilizing missions in China. It explores Ru (Confucian) concepts advocating the widespread education of the masses, showing how such concepts were linked to notions of ethnicity and moral attainment. Then it contextualizes the first uses of educational transformation in writings concerning statecraft. Xunzi emerges …
Capturing the World in Words
This essay examines some key statements in the Later Mohist treatises to gain a sense of their views on language and disputation ( bian 辯). I first show that the Later Mohists viewed disputation as an exercise in familiarizing oneself with patterns of language use and the verification of truth-claims in the phenomenal world. I then demonstrate that such an activity helps one attain one of the Mohists’ highest goals: the clarification of ethical i…
“Sagacity” and the Heaven–Human Relationship in the Wuxing 五行
Premodern History and the Frontiers of the South China Sea
Convergence 1 A&Q Premodern History and the Frontiers of the South China Sea In this A&Q feature, five scholars working on the premodern history of what is now south China and continental Southeast Asia respond to the following prompts of their choosing, and one provides a metacommentary to evaluate the responses in light of future directions for study. The prompts were designed to elucidate difficulties these scholars encounter when trying to cr…
The People Between the Rivers
Individualism in Early China
Conventional wisdom has it that the concept of individualism was absent in early China. In this uncommon study of the self and human agency in ancient China, Erica Fox Brindley provides an important corrective to this view and persuasively argues that an idea of individualism can be applied to the study of early Chinese thought and politics with intriguing results. She introduces the development of ideological and religious beliefs that link univ…
Ancient China and the Yue
In this innovative study, Erica Fox Brindley examines how, during the period 400 BCE–50 CE, Chinese states and an embryonic Chinese empire interacted with peoples referred to as the Yue/Viet along its southern frontier. Brindley provides an overview of current theories in archaeology and linguistics concerning the peoples of the ancient southern frontier of China, the closest relations on the mainland to certain later Southeast Asian and Polynesi…
Spontaneous Arising
This paper explains how, in a relatively short, newly excavated bamboo text called the Hengxian, the author provides an intriguing version of what it means for humans to act in accordance with the creative forces of the cosmos. I show that, rather than focus on effortless action per se, the author presents an account of the creation of the entire cosmos, which lays the foundation for understanding the central process of creative change in the cos…
Cultural Identity and the Canonization Of Music in Early China
This article shows that over the course of the Warring States period (479–221 BCE) authors began to organize and categorize music in a manner that helped define and reinforce their conceptions of themselves as a distinct cultural or ethnic group: variously referred to as the Huaxia, Zhuxia, and Zhou. By examining how Ruist (Confucian) authors articulated distinctions among various types of music, and by showing how such identifications denigrated…
Asian Empires Revisited
vi Editors’ Introduction Erica Brindley and On- cho Ng Asian Empires Revisited: Decentering Imperialism While empires in Asia, such as the mighty Mauryan and Qin, have admittedly existed since ancient times, the concept of empire has largely been defined according to Western history and historiography. To be sure, various Asian states throughout history might legitimately be defined and conceived in terms of the elements and attributes known to …
Ancient China and the Yue
In this innovative study, Erica Brindley examines how, during the period 400 BCE–50 CE, Chinese states and an embryonic Chinese empire interacted with peoples referred to as the Yue/Viet along its southern frontier. Brindley provides an overview of current theories in archaeology and linguistics concerning the peoples of the ancient southern frontier of China, the closest relations on the mainland to certain later Southeast Asian and Polynesian p…
Liang Cai. Witchcraft and the Rise of the First Confucian Empire
While the immensity of the Han Empire and its complex history have not been lost to historians of China and the world, in American or European academic circles in the past 50 years, only a couple dozen historians have been trained in the political and social history of the Han; of these, but a handful have made it to positions of prominence in the field. Given the sparse arena for discussing this essential history in Western circles, it is refres…
A Philosophical Translation of the Heng Xian
Music, Cosmology, and the Politics of Harmony in Early China
Individualism in early China
“Why Use an Ox-Cleaver to Carve a Chicken?” The Sociology of the Junzi Ideal in the Lunyu
Central to Confucian teachings in the Analects is the ideal of self-cultivation—in particular that of the junzi 君子 (“gentleman” “nobleman”) ideal. At the same time that Confucius recommends that individuals follow such an ideal, he also places limits on who actually might attain it. By examining statements involving such terms as the junzi, the “petty man” ( xiao ren 小人), and the “masses” ( min 民, or zhong 眾), or common people, this essay highlig…
Human Agency and the Ideal of Shang Tong (Upward Conformity) in Early Mohist Writings
Journal of Chinese PhilosophyVolume 34, Issue 3 p. 409-425 HUMAN AGENCY AND THE IDEAL OF SHANG TONG (UPWARD CONFORMITY) IN EARLY MOHIST WRITINGS† ERICA BRINDLEY, Corresponding Author ERICA BRINDLEY PENN STATE UNIVERSITYUniversity Park, PennsylvaniaERICA BRINDLEY, assistant professor, Religious Studies Program and Department of History, Penn State University. Specialties: Chinese thought and religion, intellectual history of early China. E-mail: […
The Cosmic Power of Sound in the Late Warring States and Han Periods
Writings that link sound to the cosmos became prominent in Warring States and early imperial times, as scholars began to elaborate on systems of intricate, resonant connections among objects in the cosmos. According to the systems of spontaneous resonance that they proposed, innate linkages among objects or phenomena not only existed, but they exerted causal effects in the world. Objects were categorized according to a system of correlations assi…
Music and “seeking one’s heart-mind” in the “Xing Zi Ming Chu”
Music, Cosmos, and the Development of Psychology in Early China
Music plays an important role in the development of discourses on the body, and, in particular, on psychology. From the received and excavated textual record dating to the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. we gain insights into the emergence of an elaborate logos of the psyche, or "psychology," as such a psychology relates to the cosmos. The article explores two orientations on the role of music in psychology. The first and earlier orientation outlines …
Ancient China and the Yue
In this innovative study, Erica Fox Brindley examines how, during the period 400 BCE–50 CE, Chinese states and an embryonic Chinese empire interacted with peoples referred to as the Yue/Viet along its southern frontier. Brindley provides an overview of current theories in archaeology and linguistics concerning the peoples of the ancient southern frontier of China, the closest relations on the mainland to certain later Southeast Asian and Polynesi…
Music and “seeking one’s heart-mind” in the “Xing Zi Ming Chu”
Music, Cosmos, and the Development of Psychology in Early China
Music plays an important role in the development of discourses on the body, and, in particular, on psychology. From the received and excavated textual record dating to the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. we gain insights into the emergence of an elaborate logos of the psyche, or "psychology," as such a psychology relates to the cosmos. The article explores two orientations on the role of music in psychology. The first and earlier orientation outlines …
Human Agency and the Ideal of Shang Tong (Upward Conformity) in Early Mohist Writings
Journal of Chinese PhilosophyVolume 34, Issue 3 p. 409-425 HUMAN AGENCY AND THE IDEAL OF SHANG TONG (UPWARD CONFORMITY) IN EARLY MOHIST WRITINGS† ERICA BRINDLEY, Corresponding Author ERICA BRINDLEY PENN STATE UNIVERSITYUniversity Park, PennsylvaniaERICA BRINDLEY, assistant professor, Religious Studies Program and Department of History, Penn State University. Specialties: Chinese thought and religion, intellectual history of early China. E-mail: […
The Cosmic Power of Sound in the Late Warring States and Han Periods
Writings that link sound to the cosmos became prominent in Warring States and early imperial times, as scholars began to elaborate on systems of intricate, resonant connections among objects in the cosmos. According to the systems of spontaneous resonance that they proposed, innate linkages among objects or phenomena not only existed, but they exerted causal effects in the world. Objects were categorized according to a system of correlations assi…
“Why Use an Ox-Cleaver to Carve a Chicken?” The Sociology of the Junzi Ideal in the Lunyu
Central to Confucian teachings in the Analects is the ideal of self-cultivation—in particular that of the junzi 君子 (“gentleman” “nobleman”) ideal. At the same time that Confucius recommends that individuals follow such an ideal, he also places limits on who actually might attain it. By examining statements involving such terms as the junzi, the “petty man” ( xiao ren 小人), and the “masses” ( min 民, or zhong 眾), or common people, this essay highlig…
Individualism in early China
Music, Cosmology, and the Politics of Harmony in Early China
A Philosophical Translation of the Heng Xian
Ancient China and the Yue
In this innovative study, Erica Brindley examines how, during the period 400 BCE–50 CE, Chinese states and an embryonic Chinese empire interacted with peoples referred to as the Yue/Viet along its southern frontier. Brindley provides an overview of current theories in archaeology and linguistics concerning the peoples of the ancient southern frontier of China, the closest relations on the mainland to certain later Southeast Asian and Polynesian p…
Liang Cai. Witchcraft and the Rise of the First Confucian Empire
While the immensity of the Han Empire and its complex history have not been lost to historians of China and the world, in American or European academic circles in the past 50 years, only a couple dozen historians have been trained in the political and social history of the Han; of these, but a handful have made it to positions of prominence in the field. Given the sparse arena for discussing this essential history in Western circles, it is refres…
Spontaneous Arising
This paper explains how, in a relatively short, newly excavated bamboo text called the Hengxian, the author provides an intriguing version of what it means for humans to act in accordance with the creative forces of the cosmos. I show that, rather than focus on effortless action per se, the author presents an account of the creation of the entire cosmos, which lays the foundation for understanding the central process of creative change in the cos…
Cultural Identity and the Canonization Of Music in Early China
This article shows that over the course of the Warring States period (479–221 BCE) authors began to organize and categorize music in a manner that helped define and reinforce their conceptions of themselves as a distinct cultural or ethnic group: variously referred to as the Huaxia, Zhuxia, and Zhou. By examining how Ruist (Confucian) authors articulated distinctions among various types of music, and by showing how such identifications denigrated…
Asian Empires Revisited
vi Editors’ Introduction Erica Brindley and On- cho Ng Asian Empires Revisited: Decentering Imperialism While empires in Asia, such as the mighty Mauryan and Qin, have admittedly existed since ancient times, the concept of empire has largely been defined according to Western history and historiography. To be sure, various Asian states throughout history might legitimately be defined and conceived in terms of the elements and attributes known to …
Individualism in Early China
Conventional wisdom has it that the concept of individualism was absent in early China. In this uncommon study of the self and human agency in ancient China, Erica Fox Brindley provides an important corrective to this view and persuasively argues that an idea of individualism can be applied to the study of early Chinese thought and politics with intriguing results. She introduces the development of ideological and religious beliefs that link univ…
Ancient China and the Yue
In this innovative study, Erica Fox Brindley examines how, during the period 400 BCE–50 CE, Chinese states and an embryonic Chinese empire interacted with peoples referred to as the Yue/Viet along its southern frontier. Brindley provides an overview of current theories in archaeology and linguistics concerning the peoples of the ancient southern frontier of China, the closest relations on the mainland to certain later Southeast Asian and Polynesi…
Premodern History and the Frontiers of the South China Sea
Convergence 1 A&Q Premodern History and the Frontiers of the South China Sea In this A&Q feature, five scholars working on the premodern history of what is now south China and continental Southeast Asia respond to the following prompts of their choosing, and one provides a metacommentary to evaluate the responses in light of future directions for study. The prompts were designed to elucidate difficulties these scholars encounter when trying to cr…
The People Between the Rivers
“Sagacity” and the Heaven–Human Relationship in the Wuxing 五行
Capturing the World in Words
This essay examines some key statements in the Later Mohist treatises to gain a sense of their views on language and disputation ( bian 辯). I first show that the Later Mohists viewed disputation as an exercise in familiarizing oneself with patterns of language use and the verification of truth-claims in the phenomenal world. I then demonstrate that such an activity helps one attain one of the Mohists’ highest goals: the clarification of ethical i…
The Concept of “Educational Transformation” and its Relationship to Civilizing Missions in Early China
This article examines the early history and evolution of the concept of jiaohua (教化 “educational transformation”) as a reference to civilizing missions in China. It explores Ru (Confucian) concepts advocating the widespread education of the masses, showing how such concepts were linked to notions of ethnicity and moral attainment. Then it contextualizes the first uses of educational transformation in writings concerning statecraft. Xunzi emerges …
Deconstructing “Hedonism”
China’s South and Beyond
Chinese history and philosophy (18 works) · China (12 works) · History (11 works) · Philosophy (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Political science (10 works) · Archaeology (8 works) · Art (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Ancient history (6 works)