Western Kentucky University TopSCHOLAR® Philosophy & Religion Faculty Publications Philosophy & Religion 2009 Intertextuality in Early Chinese Masters-Texts: Shared Narratives in Shi Zi Paul Fischer Western Kentucky University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/phil_rel_fac_pub Part of the History of Philosophy Commons, History of Religions of Eastern Origins Commons, and the Intellectual History Commons Recommended Citation Paul Fischer. "Intertextuality in Early Chinese Masters-Texts: Shared Narratives in Shi Zi" Asia Major Vol. 22 Iss. 2 (2009) p. 1 - 34 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy & Religion Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. intertextuality in masters-texts paul fischer Intertextuality in Early Chinese Masters-Texts: Shared Narratives in Shi Zi rior to Chinese unification in 221 bc and the beginning of imperial P history,. there was a “golden age” of philosophical debate among various scholars about the best way to live life, construct a social con- tract, and act in harmony with heaven and earth. The most influential of these scholars, collectively called the “various masters,” or zhu zi 諸子, attracted disciples who recorded the teachings of their “masters” and passed these teachings on. These texts, collectively called “mas- ters-texts” (zi shu 子書), became the bedrock of Chinese intellectual history. Many early Chinese masters-texts contain a considerable amount of shared narrative.1 One obvious explanation for this is that later au- thors borrowed sayings and stories from earlier authors, but this account obscures at least three problems.