Matteo Ricci and Michel Foucault’s Readings of Epictetus

Abstract

In The Hermeneutics of the Subject, Foucault constantly refers to Epictetus’ doctrines, using the relationship between “care of oneself” ( epimeleia heautou) and “know yourself” ( gnōthi seauton) to trace the transition of ancient Greek philosophy towards Christian thought and the emergence of the “modern mode of being subjects.” Interestingly, when China started to open to Western thought during the Qing Dynasty, Epictetus’ book Encheiridion was among the first of the Western classics translated and introduced to China by Matteo Ricci, who named it The Book of 25 Paragraphs or 25 Sayings. Matteo Ricci’s translation of Encheiridion into Chinese was an endeavor to bridge Western and Chinese educational traditions, and Ricci’s own monograph, The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, aimed to “persuade the Chinese literati and high officials by quoting Chinese classics.” By using Michel Foucault’s reading as a guide to understanding Epictetus, this article will reevaluate the influence of Epictetus on Ricci and on Ricci’s subsequent readings of Chinese philosophy, particularly the relationship between zhi (knowing) and xing (application). The goal of these intra-lingual and inter-lingual readings will be to suggest how the difference between a perception and an application might affect ethical practice as well as our current understandings of subjectivity.