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- Publisher
- University of Hawai'I Press
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2004 University of Hawai'i Press.
- ISSN
- 1529-1898
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
It is argued here that ancient Chinese convictions-that appearances and truth, the outer and the inner, and everything else in the universe are correlated; that the outer can change the inner; and that the cosmos and human society are inherently hierarchical-gave rise to the Confucian politicization of appearance, and this culminated in the rites' stringent requirements of reverence and gravity from the traditional Chinese junzi (the morally and often socially superior man) during public appearances, thereby causing his humor to fade and vanish in public, thanks to an apparently natural antithesis between reverence/gravity and laughter/humor.
Journal
Philosophy East and West – University of Hawai'I Press
Published: Sep 17, 2004