Casting Away Doubt (Jueyi 決疑) or The Taming of Chance
Some Remarks on Equiprobability in Divination Techniques in Imperial China
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21749489 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andrea Bréard (0000-0002-0496-5059, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 56 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 169-196 |
| Publication date | 2024-12-23 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | East Asian Science Technology and Medicine (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1562-918X • E-ISSN: 2666-9323 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1163/26669323-20241039 |
| OpenAlex | W4405860322 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 3 |
This article addresses the ways in which chance was rationalized, in particular through empirical observations of the outcomes of cleromantic divination procedures and mathematical theory in imperial China. It is shown that the non-existence of a theory of probability is not a relevant historical problem for the case of China. By looking at the theoretical probabilities with which certain results could be obtained, the example of Yijing divination reveals a historical tendency in its many shortcuts and variants towards schemes with equiprobable or at least symmetric results. Although no explicit concept of probability emerged in China, the quantification of chances was empirically understood at least since the Han and mathematically modelled in the seventeenth century. The article thus contributes to the history of quantification of chance outside of Europe by looking at the Chinese cultural context without assuming a normative emergence of a theory of probability
Archaeology · China · Divination · Epistemology · History of China · Normative · Zhàng · History · History of Science and Medicine · Philosophy · Probability and Statistical Research
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |