Skip to main content

Michael Puett

Harvard University, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Faculty Member

Harvard University, Anthropology, Faculty Member

Harvard University, Committee on the Study of Religion, Faculty Member

Followers

4,546

Following

2,911

Co-authors

2

Public Views

I am interested in bringing the study of China into larger historical, anthropological, and comparative frameworks. My work is focused on Chinese intellectual, cultural, and religious history; on comparative history; and on ritual, literary, social, and political theory.
Address: http://scholar.harvard.edu/puett

less

Peter Tsung Kei Wong

Princeton University

City University of New York

University of Pennsylvania

Ari Daniel Levine

The University of Georgia

Cristian-Radu Staicu

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Princeton University

filippo marsili

Saint Louis University

Jingyi Jenny Zhao

Needham Research Institute, Cambridge

InterestsView All (36)

Uploads

Papers by Michael Puett

“Modernity Narratives, Modernity Moments, and Belatedness: Periodization as an Historical Construct.”

The concept of religion has recently become an object of strong critique. As numerous studies hav... more The concept of religion has recently become an object of strong critique. As numerous studies have argued, the very concept comes from a particular reading of a particular tradition, and the attempt to build a field of study based upon such a restricted concept has resulted in, at best, a highly ethnocentric body of knowledge and, at worst, an implicitly imperialistic one. This essay attempts to respond to such critiques by arguing that instead of rejecting the concept, we need to resurrect it by building upon the indigenous understandings that emerged in other traditions to develop a more global vision.

Puett, Foreword, Tsai Analects

“Foreword.” Confucius, The Analects: An Illustrated Edition, illustrated by C. C. Tsai, translated by Brian Bruya. , 2018

"Language in Flight: Home and Elsewhere"

by Michael Puett, Veena Das, and Andrew Brandel

How is meaning conceptualized within a language in terms of capacities and potentials of words an... more How is meaning conceptualized within a language in terms of capacities and potentials of words and sentences? Analyzing words within the sentence as event-makers in Sanskrit and as creating new possibilities and of divining events in Chinese, this paper argues that writing commentaries, making translations, reciting texts and transcribing them, belong to a family of activities that we normally do with language. Thus, movement of every element of language from one place to another whether within a word, a character, a sentence, a text or between two languages is not something added from the outside, it is internal to the experience of language. We ask what bearing might such an insight have on dominant theories of translation and the untranslatable in contemporary theorizing that has been framed primarily in terms of the history of Europe's understanding of itself.

“Power and Legitimacy in the People’s Republic of China"

Power, legitimacy and world order: changing contours of preconditions and perspectives / edited b... more Power, legitimacy and world order: changing contours of preconditions and perspectives / edited by Sanjay Pulipaka, Krishnan Srinivasan and James Mayall. Description: First Edition. I New York: Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, 2023. I Includes bibliographical references and index. I Identifiers: LCCN 2022054274 (print) I LCCN 2022054275 (ebook) I ISBN 9781032268507 (Hardback) I ISBN 9781032472409 (Paperback) I ISBN 9781003385233 (eBook) Subjects: LCSH: Legitimacy of governments-Case studies. I Power (Social sciences)-Case studies. I Security, International. I COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-Political aspects. I World politics-21st century. Classification: LCC JC497 .P69 2023 (print) I LCC JC497 (ebook) I DDC 320.

"The Work of Appropriation, Domestication, and Substitution: Theories of Sacrifice in the Liji"

“Political Theologies of Justice: Meritocratic Values from a Global Perspective”

In fourth-century bce China, a religious revolutionary named Mozi emerged. In opposition to many ... more In fourth-century bce China, a religious revolutionary named Mozi emerged. In opposition to many of the religious practices and assumptions of the time, Mozi announced that Heaven, the highest god, was a just and noncapricious deity who had created the world for humanity. As a just deity, Heaven rewarded good humans and punished bad ones. And Heaven charged humans with creating a political order that did the same: Moreover, there are ways that I (Mozi) know Heaven loves the people deeply. It shaped and made the sun, moon, stars, and constellations so as to illuminate and guide [the people]. It formed and made the four seasons, spring, autumn, winter, and summer, so as to weave them into order. It sent down thunder, snow, frost, rain, and dew so as to make the five grains, hemp, and silk grow and prosper, and sent the people to obtain materials and benefit from them. It arranged and made mountains, streams, gorges, and valleys, and distributed and bestowed the hundred affairs so as to oversee and supervise the goodness and badness of the people. It made kings, dukes, and lords and charged them with, first, rewarding the worthy and punishing the wicked, and, second, plundering the metals, wood, birds, and beasts and working the five grains, hemp, and silk so as to make the materials for people's clothing and food. 1

“Humanizing the Divine and Divinizing the Human in Early China: Comparative Reflections on Ritual, Sacrifice, and Sovereignty”

“Creating Worlds: Imagination, Interpretation, and the Subjunctive”

“Formations of Knowledge in Chinese Late Antiquity”

Dies ist ein Open-Access-Titel, der unter den Bedingungen der CC BY-NC-ND 4.0-Lizenz veröffentlic... more Dies ist ein Open-Access-Titel, der unter den Bedingungen der CC BY-NC-ND 4.0-Lizenz veröffentlicht wird. Diese erlaubt die nicht-kommerzielle Nutzung, Verbreitung und Vervielfältigung in allen Medien, sofern keine Veränderungen vorgenommen werden und der/die ursprüngliche(n) Autor(en) und die Originalpublikation angegeben werden. Weitere Informationen: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Die Bedingungen der CC-Lizenz gelten nur für das Originalmaterial. Die Verwendung von Material aus anderen Quellen (gekennzeichnet durch eine Quellenangabe) wie Schaubilder, Abbildungen, Fotos und Textauszüge erfordert ggf. weitere Nutzungsgenehmigungen durch den jeweiligen Rechteinhaber. Der Harrassowitz Verlag behält sich das Recht vor, die Veröffentlichung vor unbefugter Nutzung zu schützen. Anträge auf kommerzielle Verwertung, Verwendung von Teilen der Veröffentlichung und/oder Übersetzungen sind an den Harrassowitz Verlag zu richten. Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über https://www.dnb.de abrufbar. Informationen zum Verlagsprogramm finden Sie unter https://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de © bei den Autoren

“Impagination, Reading, and Interpretation in Early Chinese Texts”

This chapter explores the forms of pagination that developed in the early Chinese tradition. It t... more This chapter explores the forms of pagination that developed in the early Chinese tradition. It traces these developments from the fourth century BC (when the primary material used for textual production was bamboo) through the first several centuries of the common era (when paper became the primary material). It argues that the forms of pagination that emerged during this period were related to changing understandings of text, interpretation, commentary and the authorities of the author and the commentator.

"Ritual as theory, theory as ritual"

“Wittgenstein on Frazer”

Cover: "A wicker man, filled with human sacrifices (071937)" © The British Library Board. C.83.k.... more

“Life, Domesticated and Undomesticated: Ghosts, Sacrifice, and the Efficacy of Ritual Practice in Early China”

This article explores classical Chinese conceptions of and practices surrounding life and vitalit... more This article explores classical Chinese conceptions of and practices surrounding life and vitality. Focus is given to the practice of sacrifice as well as the rejections of sacrifice among millenarian movements in Chinese late antiquity. My argument is that an engagement with this material challenges many of our understandings in the anthropology of religion concerning ritual, sacrifice, and interpretation.

“Genealogies of Gods, Ghosts and Humans: The Capriciousness of the Divine in Early Greece and Early China”

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for exte... more

“Ghosts, Gods, and the Coming Apocalypse: Empire and Religion in Early China and Ancient Rome”

“Manifesting Sagely Knowledge: Commentarial Practice in Chinese Late Antiquity.”

“Text and Commentary: The Early Tradition"

“Early China in Eurasian History”

“Sages, Gods, and History: Commentarial Strategies in Chinese Late Antiquity,”

“Modernity Narratives, Modernity Moments, and Belatedness: Periodization as an Historical Construct.”

The concept of religion has recently become an object of strong critique. As numerous studies hav... more The concept of religion has recently become an object of strong critique. As numerous studies have argued, the very concept comes from a particular reading of a particular tradition, and the attempt to build a field of study based upon such a restricted concept has resulted in, at best, a highly ethnocentric body of knowledge and, at worst, an implicitly imperialistic one. This essay attempts to respond to such critiques by arguing that instead of rejecting the concept, we need to resurrect it by building upon the indigenous understandings that emerged in other traditions to develop a more global vision.

Puett, Foreword, Tsai Analects

“Foreword.” Confucius, The Analects: An Illustrated Edition, illustrated by C. C. Tsai, translated by Brian Bruya. , 2018

"Language in Flight: Home and Elsewhere"

by Michael Puett, Veena Das, and Andrew Brandel

How is meaning conceptualized within a language in terms of capacities and potentials of words an... more How is meaning conceptualized within a language in terms of capacities and potentials of words and sentences? Analyzing words within the sentence as event-makers in Sanskrit and as creating new possibilities and of divining events in Chinese, this paper argues that writing commentaries, making translations, reciting texts and transcribing them, belong to a family of activities that we normally do with language. Thus, movement of every element of language from one place to another whether within a word, a character, a sentence, a text or between two languages is not something added from the outside, it is internal to the experience of language. We ask what bearing might such an insight have on dominant theories of translation and the untranslatable in contemporary theorizing that has been framed primarily in terms of the history of Europe's understanding of itself.

“Power and Legitimacy in the People’s Republic of China"

Power, legitimacy and world order: changing contours of preconditions and perspectives / edited b... more Power, legitimacy and world order: changing contours of preconditions and perspectives / edited by Sanjay Pulipaka, Krishnan Srinivasan and James Mayall. Description: First Edition. I New York: Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, 2023. I Includes bibliographical references and index. I Identifiers: LCCN 2022054274 (print) I LCCN 2022054275 (ebook) I ISBN 9781032268507 (Hardback) I ISBN 9781032472409 (Paperback) I ISBN 9781003385233 (eBook) Subjects: LCSH: Legitimacy of governments-Case studies. I Power (Social sciences)-Case studies. I Security, International. I COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-Political aspects. I World politics-21st century. Classification: LCC JC497 .P69 2023 (print) I LCC JC497 (ebook) I DDC 320.

"The Work of Appropriation, Domestication, and Substitution: Theories of Sacrifice in the Liji"

“Political Theologies of Justice: Meritocratic Values from a Global Perspective”

In fourth-century bce China, a religious revolutionary named Mozi emerged. In opposition to many ... more In fourth-century bce China, a religious revolutionary named Mozi emerged. In opposition to many of the religious practices and assumptions of the time, Mozi announced that Heaven, the highest god, was a just and noncapricious deity who had created the world for humanity. As a just deity, Heaven rewarded good humans and punished bad ones. And Heaven charged humans with creating a political order that did the same: Moreover, there are ways that I (Mozi) know Heaven loves the people deeply. It shaped and made the sun, moon, stars, and constellations so as to illuminate and guide [the people]. It formed and made the four seasons, spring, autumn, winter, and summer, so as to weave them into order. It sent down thunder, snow, frost, rain, and dew so as to make the five grains, hemp, and silk grow and prosper, and sent the people to obtain materials and benefit from them. It arranged and made mountains, streams, gorges, and valleys, and distributed and bestowed the hundred affairs so as to oversee and supervise the goodness and badness of the people. It made kings, dukes, and lords and charged them with, first, rewarding the worthy and punishing the wicked, and, second, plundering the metals, wood, birds, and beasts and working the five grains, hemp, and silk so as to make the materials for people's clothing and food. 1

“Humanizing the Divine and Divinizing the Human in Early China: Comparative Reflections on Ritual, Sacrifice, and Sovereignty”

“Creating Worlds: Imagination, Interpretation, and the Subjunctive”

“Formations of Knowledge in Chinese Late Antiquity”

Dies ist ein Open-Access-Titel, der unter den Bedingungen der CC BY-NC-ND 4.0-Lizenz veröffentlic... more Dies ist ein Open-Access-Titel, der unter den Bedingungen der CC BY-NC-ND 4.0-Lizenz veröffentlicht wird. Diese erlaubt die nicht-kommerzielle Nutzung, Verbreitung und Vervielfältigung in allen Medien, sofern keine Veränderungen vorgenommen werden und der/die ursprüngliche(n) Autor(en) und die Originalpublikation angegeben werden. Weitere Informationen: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Die Bedingungen der CC-Lizenz gelten nur für das Originalmaterial. Die Verwendung von Material aus anderen Quellen (gekennzeichnet durch eine Quellenangabe) wie Schaubilder, Abbildungen, Fotos und Textauszüge erfordert ggf. weitere Nutzungsgenehmigungen durch den jeweiligen Rechteinhaber. Der Harrassowitz Verlag behält sich das Recht vor, die Veröffentlichung vor unbefugter Nutzung zu schützen. Anträge auf kommerzielle Verwertung, Verwendung von Teilen der Veröffentlichung und/oder Übersetzungen sind an den Harrassowitz Verlag zu richten. Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über https://www.dnb.de abrufbar. Informationen zum Verlagsprogramm finden Sie unter https://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de © bei den Autoren

“Impagination, Reading, and Interpretation in Early Chinese Texts”

This chapter explores the forms of pagination that developed in the early Chinese tradition. It t... more This chapter explores the forms of pagination that developed in the early Chinese tradition. It traces these developments from the fourth century BC (when the primary material used for textual production was bamboo) through the first several centuries of the common era (when paper became the primary material). It argues that the forms of pagination that emerged during this period were related to changing understandings of text, interpretation, commentary and the authorities of the author and the commentator.

"Ritual as theory, theory as ritual"

“Wittgenstein on Frazer”

Cover: "A wicker man, filled with human sacrifices (071937)" © The British Library Board. C.83.k.... more

“Life, Domesticated and Undomesticated: Ghosts, Sacrifice, and the Efficacy of Ritual Practice in Early China”

This article explores classical Chinese conceptions of and practices surrounding life and vitalit... more This article explores classical Chinese conceptions of and practices surrounding life and vitality. Focus is given to the practice of sacrifice as well as the rejections of sacrifice among millenarian movements in Chinese late antiquity. My argument is that an engagement with this material challenges many of our understandings in the anthropology of religion concerning ritual, sacrifice, and interpretation.

“Genealogies of Gods, Ghosts and Humans: The Capriciousness of the Divine in Early Greece and Early China”

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for exte... more

“Ghosts, Gods, and the Coming Apocalypse: Empire and Religion in Early China and Ancient Rome”

“Manifesting Sagely Knowledge: Commentarial Practice in Chinese Late Antiquity.”

“Text and Commentary: The Early Tradition"

“Early China in Eurasian History”

“Sages, Gods, and History: Commentarial Strategies in Chinese Late Antiquity,”

Ritual and its Consequences: An Essay on the Limits of Sincerity

To Become a God: Cosmology, Sacrifice, and Self-Divinization in Early China

Published by (he Harv3rd University Asia Center for (he H arvard-Yenching Institute Distributed b... more

The Ambivalence of Creation: Debates Concerning Innovation and Artifice in Early China