Debating the Proper Wei to Rule the State in Early Chinese and Greek Political Philosophy

Abstract

Abstract Comparative studies of Chinese thought in Western languages tend to privilege Western concepts as their tools of analysis. This essay “flips the script” by using an emotion-related concept prominent in early Chinese political philosophy, wei 威, to examine ancient Greek political philosophy. After tracing the conceptual contours of wei, the essay argues that Plato and Aristotle display awareness of the sort of emotional phenomena referenced in early Chinese (especially, early Confucian) discussions of wei. Nevertheless, those phenomena are nowhere nearly as important for Plato and Aristotle as they are in early Chinese discourse about politics. The essay suggests that this difference derives partly from the forms of government on which Plato and Aristotle focus, but that such an explanation would not—from the Chinese perspective—fully justify such neglect of these phenomena. If correct, that observation highlights a potentially important lesson to be learned about politics, even today’s politics.