Books by Dirk Meyer
竹上之思 全書, 2021
本書研究的是戰國時期（約前481– 前222）一批特定的哲
學文本。本書將這些文本視為研究對象本身，討論戰國時期文本
的物質條件、寫本文化（manuscript culture）、書寫、意義建構... more 本書研究的是戰國時期（約前481– 前222）一批特定的哲
學文本。本書將這些文本視為研究對象本身，討論戰國時期文本
的物質條件、寫本文化（manuscript culture）、書寫、意義建構
技巧、文本群體（textual communities）、哲學思想之間的相互關
係。通過細讀文本，我區分出兩類文本，分別稱之為「基於論述
的文本」（argument-based texts）和「基於語境的文本」（contextdependent
texts）。這一區分不是絕對的，而是有其方法論上的
必要性，因為只有強調這一時期不同哲學文本之間的共性，才
有可能釐清現實的複雜性。簡言之，理想型「基於論述的文本」
的意義建構與書寫密切相關；「基於語境的文本」則需指涉評
注者，還涉及由文本、意義中介、信息接收者
組成的意義傳達的三方關係。所以，儘管「基於論述的文本」
推動了獨立的哲學思維活動，「基於語境的文本」卻是更為廣
泛的哲學進程（這一進程很大程度上外在於文本本身）的平台。
Songs of the Royal Zhou and the Royal Shao: Shi 詩 of the Anhui University Manuscripts, 2022
The songs of the Royal Zhou (“Zhou Nan” 周南) and of the Royal
Shao (“Shao Nan” 召南) have formed a ... more The songs of the Royal Zhou (“Zhou Nan” 周南) and of the Royal
Shao (“Shao Nan” 召南) have formed a conceptual unit since at
least the late Spring and Autumn period (771–453 BC). With this
book Meyer and Schwartz provide a first complete reading of their
earliest, Warring States (453–221 BC), iteration as witnessed by the
Anhui University manuscripts. As a thought experiment, the
authors seek to establish an emic reading of these songs, which
they contextualise in the larger framework of studies of the Shi
(Songs) and of meaning production during the Warring States
period more broadly. The analysis casts light on how the Songs
were used by different groups during the Warring States period.
Documentation and Argument in Early China: The Shangshu (Venerated Documents) and the Shu Traditions, 2021
This study uncovers the traditions behind the formative Classic Shàngshū (Venerated Documents). I... more This study uncovers the traditions behind the formative Classic Shàngshū (Venerated Documents). It reveals “Shū” (Documents) as a genre of textual practice that was used creatively by contrasting conceptual communities for socio-philosophical ends. Through analysis of Warring States manuscript texts, it shows how different communities rewrote old cultural capital and became political actors through literary thought production.
Origins of Chinese Political Philosophy is the first book in any Western language to explore
the ... more Origins of Chinese Political Philosophy is the first book in any Western language to explore
the composition, language, thought, and early history of the Shangshu (Classic of
Documents), one of the pillars of the Chinese textual, intellectual, and political tradition.
In examining the text from multiple disciplinary and intellectual perspectives, Origins of
Chinese Political Philosophy challenges the traditional accounts of the nature and
formation of the Shangshu and its individual chapters. As it analyzes in detail the central
ideas and precepts given voice in the text, it further recasts the Shangshu as a collection of
dynamic cultural products that expressed and shaped the political and intellectual
discourses of different times and communities.
Contributors are: Joachim Gentz, Yegor Grebnev, Magnus Ribbing Gren, Michael Hunter,
Martin Kern, Maria Khayutina, Robin McNeal, Dirk Meyer, Yuri Pines, Charles Sanft,
David Schaberg, Kai Vogelsang.
Literary Forms of Argument in Early China explores formal approaches to the study of philosophica... more Literary Forms of Argument in Early China explores formal approaches to the study of philosophical texts to present new methods for the analysis of pre-modern thought in China. Attempts made by Chinese thinkers to generate literary forms of philosophical reasoning have gone unrecognised within scholarship in China and the West. Drawing together the expertise of leading scholars of early Chinese textuality, this volume addresses this omission by examining the formal characteristics of an argument, the interrelationship between form and content, as well as patterned compositions and non-linear semantic utterances. With these comprehensive new readings, the volume makes a landmark contribution to the study of written thinking in early China.
Literary Forms of Argument in Early China explores formal approaches to the study of philosophica... more Literary Forms of Argument in Early China explores formal approaches to the study of philosophical texts to present new methods for the analysis of pre-modern thought in China. Attempts made by Chinese thinkers to generate literary forms of philosophical reasoning have gone unrecognised within scholarship in China and the West. Drawing together the expertise of leading scholars of early Chinese textuality, this volume addresses this omission by examining the formal characteristics of an argument, the interrelationship between form and content, as well as patterned compositions and non-linear semantic utterances. With these comprehensive new readings, the volume makes a landmark contribution to the study of written thinking in early China
Literary Forms of Argument in Early China explores formal approaches to the study of philosophica... more Literary Forms of Argument in Early China explores formal approaches to the study of philosophical texts to present new methods for the analysis of pre-modern thought in China. Attempts made by Chinese thinkers to generate literary forms of philosophical reasoning have gone unrecognised within scholarship in China and the West. Drawing together the expertise of leading scholars of early Chinese textuality, this volume addresses this omission by examining the formal characteristics of an argument, the interrelationship between form and content, as well as patterned compositions and non-linear semantic utterances. With these comprehensive new readings, the volume makes a landmark contribution to the study of written thinking in early China.
Scholarship on early Chinese thought has long tended to treat texts as mere repositories of idea... more Scholarship on early Chinese thought has long tended to treat texts as mere repositories of ideas rather than as meaningful objects in their own right. Not only does this approach present an idealised account of China’s intellectual past, but it also imposes artificial boundaries between textual and philosophical traditions. As the first study to treat text as a cultural phenomenon during the Warring States period, this book demonstrates the interplay among the material conditions of text and manuscript culture, writing, and thought. Through close readings of philosophical texts excavated at Guōdiàn, it analyses crucial strategies of meaning construction and casts light on the ways in which different communities used texts to philosophical ends. Meyer thus establishes new understandings of the correlation between ideas, their material carrier, and the production of meaning in early China
Conference organisation by Dirk Meyer
In celebration of the first three years of the Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures (CMTC) and... more In celebration of the first three years of the Centre for Manuscript and Text Cultures (CMTC) and the launch of the centre's open-access journal with its inaugural issue, Monumentalization, there will be a CMTC festival in Trinity Term 2022. Public events include the formal launch of the journal Manuscript and Text Cultures (Wednesday 11th May), and 'Unravelling Manuscript Cultures', at once a public reading of extracts of premodern poetry in translation accompanied by live music and a display of select manuscripts from different regions and times (Thursday 12th May).
In pre-modern cultures, texts are often transferred from manuscript formats onto artefacts and ar... more In pre-modern cultures, texts are often transferred from manuscript formats onto artefacts and architectural elements. Inscription on a more permanent medium, typically stone or metal, occurs in a variety of settings: from public displays to restricted or inaccessible locations, such as sacred spaces and tombs. A text is thus recontextualized through adaptations and reconfigurations of content, format, language, script, and use. The resulting artefacts preserve vestiges of practices of scribes and other actors involved in the transposition and monumentalization of writing. These traces make it possible to glimpse underlying manuscript tradition and the changing application of texts in the different contexts. The aim of this workshop is to enrich understanding of both manuscript and epigraphic practices in their complex interrelationships. The participants will contribute their expertise on distinctively different traditions in order to explore the phenomenon across a range of cultures.
Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Cambridge University: This paper will examine how changes in writing practice... more Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Cambridge University: This paper will examine how changes in writing practice exemplified in Irish manuscripts of the twelfth century CE signify broader cultural and socio-political changes and how the codices of the period, in particular the Book of Leinster, bear witness to major developments of the time in style, form and content. As elsewhere in Europe, the structure of the institution of the Church evolved significantly, and the religious landscape was transformed by the arrival of new orders. This had a considerable impact on the intellectual milieu within which manuscripts were produced. Involvement of secular rulers in written culture ensured that developments in the wider political sphere are also reflected in the manuscript monuments of the time though in ways that are not always immediately apparent. The paper will explore this time of considerable change in a broader European context, probing how changes in writing are symptomatic of writing change.
Jochem Kahl, Freie Universität Berlin: Text transfer is a complex, multilayered process of knowle... more Jochem Kahl, Freie Universität Berlin: Text transfer is a complex, multilayered process of knowledge movement. From composing or copying a text to transferring a pattern or inscribing a tomb wall: the interaction between text content, materiality, actors, institutions and techniques always leads to new outcomes. This paper will focus on the transfer of epistemic knowledge in Ancient Egypt. It will discuss the philological treatment of epistemic texts and will present examples of the knowledge transfer over the span of more than two millennia. The principles of the concept ‘Oikonomies of knowledge’, developed within the Collaborative Research Centre 980 ‘Episteme in motion’, will be presented for this discussion
Michael MacDonald, Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, will speak about "Epigraphic Mania": F... more Michael MacDonald, Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, will speak about "Epigraphic Mania": From the mid-first millennium BC to the coming of Islam more than a thousand years later, the populations of Arabia had what might be described as an "epigraphic mania". They carved formal inscriptions and tens of thousands of graffiti in a number of indigenous scripts derived from the South Semitic script family as well as in Greek and many forms of Aramaic and used these scripts to express individual and sometimes multiple identities. This talk will examine examine some of the more bizarre uses of writing in the region.
Talk by Charles Melville, Cambridge
"Text-image relationships in Persian manuscripts"
Although ... more Talk by Charles Melville, Cambridge
"Text-image relationships in Persian manuscripts"
Although the juxtaposition of verbal and visual passages on an illustrated manuscript page is an obvious one, the topic of their relationship has not been adequately addressed in the scholarship on Islamic art. Partly this is due to the different interests and background of historians of literature and of art, the former being primarily concerned with linguistic and textual issues - establishing correct readings, noting variants, editing, translating and understanding the authors' work. Art historians, on the other hand, until relatively recently have concentrated on aesthetic issues, connoisseurship, the identification of artists, schools and styles, and analysis of composition, colour, 'realism' etc. Even when the context of the painting is discussed, it tends to be the context of production - and issues of patronage, audience, or precedents - rather than the verbal context. This is witnessed by the normal habit of reproducing images in art books with the text cropped away, even though the essential point of a miniature painting (and perhaps ones in other media) is to illustrate a text, be it a story or an allusion to one. The topic is even more neglected when it comes to historical rather than poetic or literary texts (although the distinction is often not clear cut).
We will briefly explore the state of the field in western art history before looking at the theory and practice of illustrating texts in the Persian tradition, The main objective is to understand how the relationship between text and image - whether close or distant - can enhance our analysis of these works, and how they were perceived and received over time, rather than merely decorated.
Although it has been long recognized that the evolutionary model orality–manuscript–print is not ... more Although it has been long recognized that the evolutionary model orality–manuscript–print is not tenable anymore, historians of the Western book still hesitate to recognize that printing had a different (and not always revolutionary) impact on different cultures. South Asia offers a complex and to some extent still puzzling picture of textual transmission. The central role of orality in South Asian textual culture—and particularly in the Sanskritic cultural sphere—is greatly emphasized both by Western scholars as well as by indigenous intellectuals. Yet an incredibly high number of manuscripts were written in South Asia, in some regions even until the beginning of the 20th century, estimates ranging from eight to thirty millions manuscripts. On the other hand, print technology began to spread on a large scale only in the 19th century. In the present talk I will try and outline some reflections about the relationship between orality, manuscript culture, and print technology in South Asia, focusing on the factors that led to a late diffusion of print culture in the Indian subcontinent as opposed to other parts of Asia.
"The Materiality of Knowledge in Chinese Thought, Past and Present", The Queen's College, Univers... more "The Materiality of Knowledge in Chinese Thought, Past and Present", The Queen's College, University of Oxford: 19 - 21 Sept. 2018: https://www.materialityofknowledge.org Knowledge is shaped, sustained, and framed by socio-material factors and this conference aims to explore the ways in which materiality has affected and will continue to affect the perception, processing, and production of knowledge in China. We invite abstract submissions for papers that will deal with issues of materiality of knowledge in the following three spheres: 1.The Materiality of Text Production and Text Performance 2.The Materiality of Collections and Anthologies 3.The Materiality of Libraries and Archives We invite applicants to submit abstracts by Sunday 15 October 2017
The aim of the workshop is to examine material aspects of writing and text production, as well as... more The aim of the workshop is to examine material aspects of writing and text production, as well as transmission and the interface between the oral and the written, across pre-modern literate societies
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Books by Dirk Meyer
學文本。本書將這些文本視為研究對象本身，討論戰國時期文本
的物質條件、寫本文化（manuscript culture）、書寫、意義建構
技巧、文本群體（textual communities）、哲學思想之間的相互關
係。通過細讀文本，我區分出兩類文本，分別稱之為「基於論述
的文本」（argument-based texts）和「基於語境的文本」（contextdependent
texts）。這一區分不是絕對的，而是有其方法論上的
必要性，因為只有強調這一時期不同哲學文本之間的共性，才
有可能釐清現實的複雜性。簡言之，理想型「基於論述的文本」
的意義建構與書寫密切相關；「基於語境的文本」則需指涉評
注者，還涉及由文本、意義中介、信息接收者
組成的意義傳達的三方關係。所以，儘管「基於論述的文本」
推動了獨立的哲學思維活動，「基於語境的文本」卻是更為廣
泛的哲學進程（這一進程很大程度上外在於文本本身）的平台。
Shao (“Shao Nan” 召南) have formed a conceptual unit since at
least the late Spring and Autumn period (771–453 BC). With this
book Meyer and Schwartz provide a first complete reading of their
earliest, Warring States (453–221 BC), iteration as witnessed by the
Anhui University manuscripts. As a thought experiment, the
authors seek to establish an emic reading of these songs, which
they contextualise in the larger framework of studies of the Shi
(Songs) and of meaning production during the Warring States
period more broadly. The analysis casts light on how the Songs
were used by different groups during the Warring States period.
the composition, language, thought, and early history of the Shangshu (Classic of
Documents), one of the pillars of the Chinese textual, intellectual, and political tradition.
In examining the text from multiple disciplinary and intellectual perspectives, Origins of
Chinese Political Philosophy challenges the traditional accounts of the nature and
formation of the Shangshu and its individual chapters. As it analyzes in detail the central
ideas and precepts given voice in the text, it further recasts the Shangshu as a collection of
dynamic cultural products that expressed and shaped the political and intellectual
discourses of different times and communities.
Contributors are: Joachim Gentz, Yegor Grebnev, Magnus Ribbing Gren, Michael Hunter,
Martin Kern, Maria Khayutina, Robin McNeal, Dirk Meyer, Yuri Pines, Charles Sanft,
David Schaberg, Kai Vogelsang.
Conference organisation by Dirk Meyer
"Text-image relationships in Persian manuscripts"
Although the juxtaposition of verbal and visual passages on an illustrated manuscript page is an obvious one, the topic of their relationship has not been adequately addressed in the scholarship on Islamic art. Partly this is due to the different interests and background of historians of literature and of art, the former being primarily concerned with linguistic and textual issues - establishing correct readings, noting variants, editing, translating and understanding the authors' work. Art historians, on the other hand, until relatively recently have concentrated on aesthetic issues, connoisseurship, the identification of artists, schools and styles, and analysis of composition, colour, 'realism' etc. Even when the context of the painting is discussed, it tends to be the context of production - and issues of patronage, audience, or precedents - rather than the verbal context. This is witnessed by the normal habit of reproducing images in art books with the text cropped away, even though the essential point of a miniature painting (and perhaps ones in other media) is to illustrate a text, be it a story or an allusion to one. The topic is even more neglected when it comes to historical rather than poetic or literary texts (although the distinction is often not clear cut).
We will briefly explore the state of the field in western art history before looking at the theory and practice of illustrating texts in the Persian tradition, The main objective is to understand how the relationship between text and image - whether close or distant - can enhance our analysis of these works, and how they were perceived and received over time, rather than merely decorated.
學文本。本書將這些文本視為研究對象本身，討論戰國時期文本
的物質條件、寫本文化（manuscript culture）、書寫、意義建構
技巧、文本群體（textual communities）、哲學思想之間的相互關
係。通過細讀文本，我區分出兩類文本，分別稱之為「基於論述
的文本」（argument-based texts）和「基於語境的文本」（contextdependent
texts）。這一區分不是絕對的，而是有其方法論上的
必要性，因為只有強調這一時期不同哲學文本之間的共性，才
有可能釐清現實的複雜性。簡言之，理想型「基於論述的文本」
的意義建構與書寫密切相關；「基於語境的文本」則需指涉評
注者，還涉及由文本、意義中介、信息接收者
組成的意義傳達的三方關係。所以，儘管「基於論述的文本」
推動了獨立的哲學思維活動，「基於語境的文本」卻是更為廣
泛的哲學進程（這一進程很大程度上外在於文本本身）的平台。
Shao (“Shao Nan” 召南) have formed a conceptual unit since at
least the late Spring and Autumn period (771–453 BC). With this
book Meyer and Schwartz provide a first complete reading of their
earliest, Warring States (453–221 BC), iteration as witnessed by the
Anhui University manuscripts. As a thought experiment, the
authors seek to establish an emic reading of these songs, which
they contextualise in the larger framework of studies of the Shi
(Songs) and of meaning production during the Warring States
period more broadly. The analysis casts light on how the Songs
were used by different groups during the Warring States period.
the composition, language, thought, and early history of the Shangshu (Classic of
Documents), one of the pillars of the Chinese textual, intellectual, and political tradition.
In examining the text from multiple disciplinary and intellectual perspectives, Origins of
Chinese Political Philosophy challenges the traditional accounts of the nature and
formation of the Shangshu and its individual chapters. As it analyzes in detail the central
ideas and precepts given voice in the text, it further recasts the Shangshu as a collection of
dynamic cultural products that expressed and shaped the political and intellectual
discourses of different times and communities.
Contributors are: Joachim Gentz, Yegor Grebnev, Magnus Ribbing Gren, Michael Hunter,
Martin Kern, Maria Khayutina, Robin McNeal, Dirk Meyer, Yuri Pines, Charles Sanft,
David Schaberg, Kai Vogelsang.
"Text-image relationships in Persian manuscripts"
Although the juxtaposition of verbal and visual passages on an illustrated manuscript page is an obvious one, the topic of their relationship has not been adequately addressed in the scholarship on Islamic art. Partly this is due to the different interests and background of historians of literature and of art, the former being primarily concerned with linguistic and textual issues - establishing correct readings, noting variants, editing, translating and understanding the authors' work. Art historians, on the other hand, until relatively recently have concentrated on aesthetic issues, connoisseurship, the identification of artists, schools and styles, and analysis of composition, colour, 'realism' etc. Even when the context of the painting is discussed, it tends to be the context of production - and issues of patronage, audience, or precedents - rather than the verbal context. This is witnessed by the normal habit of reproducing images in art books with the text cropped away, even though the essential point of a miniature painting (and perhaps ones in other media) is to illustrate a text, be it a story or an allusion to one. The topic is even more neglected when it comes to historical rather than poetic or literary texts (although the distinction is often not clear cut).
We will briefly explore the state of the field in western art history before looking at the theory and practice of illustrating texts in the Persian tradition, The main objective is to understand how the relationship between text and image - whether close or distant - can enhance our analysis of these works, and how they were perceived and received over time, rather than merely decorated.
between historical events and their verbal recognition, this study analyzes
memory construction in the politico-philosophical debate of the Warring
States period by taking primary reference to “Gu ming” 顧命 (“Testamentary
Charge”) from the modern-script recension of the Shangshu . “Gu ming” as understood here is not primarily a document that records historical change through events but a multilayered intellectual enterprise where ancient communities come to terms with the changing realities of their social and intellectual experience.
“Gu ming” presents the act of succession from King Cheng 成王 (r. 1042/1035–1006 BCE) to his son Zhao 釗, the future King Kang 康王 (r. 1005/1003–978 BCE).
Despite its outlook, “Gu ming” should not be seen as an actual witness to the act of succession from King Cheng to the future King Kang, nor should it be considered primarily as an instance of the—retrospectively invented—category “ming.” Instead, in its present constitution it is an Eastern Zhou (770–256 BCE) artifact that takes a vital moment of the Zhou’s past as its central theme and translates sociopolitical angst into a founding myth of the Zhou. By so doing, the text connects to the wider debate on appropriate forms of rulership in the politico-philosophical setting of the late Eastern Zhou period, for which it (re)deploys a common textual framing device.
For the further particulars, please follow the link:
Junior Research Fellowship in Manuscript and Text Cultures - The Queen's College, Oxford
The closing date midday (UK time) 17 February 2025.
CULTURES
The Governing Body of The Queen’s College invites applications from graduates of any university for election to a three-year post-doctoral position as a Junior Research Fellow in Manuscript and Text Cultures, with a research specialism in knowledge-production and text-transmission in pre-modern literate societies.
Fellowships are intended to support those at an early stage of their academic careers, and will normally be awarded to those who have recently completed their doctoral research, or are very close to completion. Candidates must not have accumulated more than seven years in full-time postgraduate study of research, nor have already held a post-doctoral research fellowship elsewhere.
The basic stipend of the Fellowship, which is pensionable under the Universities Superannuation Scheme, is £22,000 subject to adjustment in the light of any other emoluments enjoyed by the Fellow or in the light of any general alteration to University stipends. The Fellow will be entitled to free rooms in College, or to an allowance of £6,000 in lieu, and to free meals in College.
Applications should be submitted, preferably by e-mail to [email protected] the Academic Administrator, by noon on Monday 15th February 2016.
這篇論文提供了對清華簡〈湯在啻門〉部分的「深描」（使用 Geertz 的概念）。「深描」通過探索〈湯在啻門〉的交際維度，及分析文本與施行之間的互動，在時間話語中重構了〈湯在啻門〉的交際使用。手寫文本記錄了想象中的成湯帝和名臣伊尹（始終被 介紹為「小臣」）在啻門的一次對話。文本是高度格式化的，並呈現了一次關於「古之良言至於今」的交談。對話由一段在文本化的「書」的傳統中常見的慣用引言，以及一段從「戲劇性」角度（Utzschneider）出發總結文本的最終評價構架而成。在討論事項以目錄的形式出現時，文本是押韻的，表示完整性。文本勻稱的構成與看起來較貧乏的內容不相一致，出現了讓現代讀者相當困惑的古怪的空話。本文通過利用內容─形式理論和信息論，以及思考文本的表述維度，探查了內容和形式之間的明顯衝突，並重構了戰國共同體通過格式化的文本闡明意義的策略。因此，被放入這樣的脈絡後，作為一個戰國時期（ca. 453–222 BC）思想景觀中表述文本的意義建構的參照物，這個相當古怪的文本起到了更全面的作用。
Registration link for this webinar: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc7nRMJiErGrywNaMGh5K_lEf5zxFyMMeGvvMH1zGJNsnyM-A/viewform.
Youtube Live link of this webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3tOw55j1VA.
(In case it doesn't work, please visit JAS Youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChoS3m01I73UQf6y80AFhZA, and select "Oxford Virtual Master Class")