Thesis Abstract: Shi 勢, Dynamics of Cognition and Causation in the axial
period of Chinese Philosophy (500-200 BC)
(Marnix Wells, PhD Chinese Philosophy, SOAS 2001)
This thesis asks the question how far the word Shi 勢/势, in axial Chinese philosophy, can be equated with the Greek dynamis (dunamis). Dynamis, I contend, sharing with Shi the primary senses of Force and Power, is central to Aristotle's theory of causation, where it acquires the abstract sense of potential.
This thesis investigates the role of Shi in proto-scientific thinking. Shi, I demonstrate, can be a physical force of accumulation, gravity, flotation, and leverage, producing external conditions and affecting sensory perception and cognition. It encompasses human morale, energy and skill, as well as a transcendent Power of a divine Heaven or Nature. This thesis challenges interpretations of the language of Chinese philosophy as symbolic, rather than representational. It is a radical reappraisal of Chinese philosophy, through Shi, and the rediscovery of its foundations in empiricism and logic.
Using and augmenting computerised compilations, the thesis edits and tabulates 603 occurrences of Shi in nineteen original texts. Among these texts, I reinstate a line to Thompsons Shen Dao, which, I argue, completes a chain of quasi-syllogistic reasoning. Starting from the ancient graph 埶 (now prounced yi as in ‘art’ 藝), we examine related, confused or unrecognised forms tied to a Shi/yi alternation，or
*siad!*ngiad, in Karlgren’s archaic reconstruction. He adduced newly unearthed texts to argue that this alternation can be explained by Conradys *s- prefix, which, I postulate, converted the noun yi into the verb Shi/she to plant/erect, which thus evolved via verb-noun into the abstract noun establishment/force/manifested conditions, while the verb to plant was replaced by shi 莳; and to erect, as QiuXigui 1998 shows, by she 設.
The present thesis critically evaluates Shi's semantic range and evolution, through existing translations, and offers new literal translations. It illustrates Shi's unique conceptualisation of potentiality in spatiotemporal theories of gradualism, Moments of change, advantage of Position, the Five Actions and technology. It discusses Shi under four categories: 1) military, 2) psychological, 3) political and 4) physical. Fresh interpretations of Shi, as Tactics in warfare, and Effect of influence on sensory perception, and Conditioning in cultivation of external circumstances and Force of Necessity in dialectical logic, are presented. Shi s senses are summarised under the four heads of Circumstances, Power, Potential and Force. Finally, a generic translation of Shi as Dynamics is proposed.
Acknowledgements
I record here my appreciation to Paul Thompson. 1 should also like to thank Glen Dudbridge for his support; and Li Xueqin, Sarah Allan and Edmund Ryden for their advice. Guo Shirong and Andrea Breard kindly supplied materials on mathematics; Ulrike Middendorf assisted in particular with philological sources. I should also like to thank Nick Bunnin, Roderick Whitfield, and, not least, my parents for their valuable advice and encouragement.
I have made particular use of the work of A.C. Graham 1978: Later Mohist Logic, Ethics and Science, and of Paul Thompson 1979: The Shen Tzu Fragments. All translations and interpretations provided in this thesis, unless otherwise stated, are my own.