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Stratagem Rationality of Traditional China

2018, Russian Journal of Philosophical Sciences

Abstract

For a long time, leading European thinkers have denied systematic, theoretical and rational nature of Chinese traditional thinking, unpretentiously reading it as banal moralizing (“moral philosophy,” at best – “moral metaphysics,” etc.), not supported by any proper philosophical discourse. However, the habitual socioethical label conceals a much deeper problematic of strategic thinking. At its center, there is the question of choosing all sorts of strategies: from everyday life to special technical ones, from personal existential choice to fateful state decisions. The concept of a winning strategy is emblematized by the dramatic plot of a deadly risk (“stepping on a tiger’s tail”) but under certain conditions with guaranteed happy end. The strategy of harmony (he 和), which is miraculous in its effectiveness, is proposed as a exemplary strategy. It allows you to “step on the tiger’s tail” with impunity (lü hu wei履 虎尾). From the point of view of strategic thinking, the criterion of co...