PROMOTING ACTION IN WARRING STATES POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY: A FIRST LOOK AT THE CHU MANUSCRIPTCAO MIE'S BATTLE ARRAYS

Abstract

AbstractRecent excavations of Chinese bamboo manuscripts have so far yielded a wealth of information about classical philosophical debates, but conspicuously absent have been contemporary manuscript copies of texts on the most prevalent socio-political issue of the aptly named Warring States Period, namely warfare. Recently, however, the Shanghai Museum began publishing several Warring States bamboo manuscripts from the kingdom of Chu, which it acquired in 1994. Among them is the manuscript of a previously unknown Warring States text titledCao Mie's Battle Arrays. Through a lengthy dialogue between Duke Zhuang of Lu and his advisor Cao Mie, this manuscript offers new insight into statecraft methods designed to ensure the viability of a small kingdom surrounded by larger bellicose neighbors. While many contemporary philosophical schools considered the welfare of a kingdom or army to be linked to the power of both virtue and the will of Heaven, Cao Mie gives precedence to the real-world efficacy of the ruler's actions and the subsequent response of the populace and soldiers. In this paper I offer an introductory codicological analysis of the manuscript, followed by a study of Cao Mie's central theme of personal action— which requires the ruler to be a visible, decisive, and active participant in handling mundane affairs of the kingdom and in commanding the military.