Doing good and ridding evil in Ming China : : the political career of Wang Yangming / / George L. Israel.

• Superior document: Sinica Leidensia, Volume 116
• VerfasserIn: Israel, George Lawrence, 1966-
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, Netherlands : : Brill,, 2014.; ©2014
• Year of Publication: 2014
• Language: English
• Series: Sinica Leidensia ; Volume 116.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (353 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

In Doing Good and Ridding Evil in Ming China: The Political Career of Wang Yangming , George Israel offers an account of this influential Neo-Confucian philosopher’s official career and military campaigns. While his contribution to China’s intellectual history and the outlines of his political life are well known, the relation between his thought and what he did in his capacity as a Ming official has been given less attention. Prior writing on Wang Yangming has passed judgment on his ideas by either idealizing or condemning him for how he treated those he was assigned to govern. Through a detailed reconstruction of his career in the context of issues of empire, ethnicity, and violence, George Israel demonstrates that the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- 1 Early Career -- 2 Pacifying Southern Gan -- 3 The Prince and the Sage -- 4 Sageliness Within, Kingliness Without -- 5 Benevolence on the Border -- 6 Subduing and Civilizing the Yao -- Conclusion -- Epilogue -- Works Cited -- Index.