2 - A Parenthetical Past

Summary

This chapter studies voices that were skeptical or even inimical towards the supposed utility of historical knowledge for the construction and functioning of a proper political order. In particular, I focus the discussion on the Guodian Laozi and the Mengzi, as representative examples of, respectively, the cosmogonic and bioethical literatures of the late Warring States period that were part of this broader antihistorical current. In the Laozi, we see the delineation of a cosmogonic history, a type of deep history that was mobilized to question and undermine the meaningfulness and relevance of all other historical narratives. In the Mengzi, we see a purposeful distancing from and subjugation of historical knowledge as an authoritative source towards the proper cultivation of one’s ethical potential. The cultivated skepticism or even hostility towards the authority of the past in these two different texts points to the contentiousness of the field of the past in the latter half of the Warring States period.