期刊名称：Fragments : Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Ancient and Medieval Pasts
印刷版ISSN：2161-8585
电子版ISSN：2161-8585
出版年度：2011
卷号：1
出版社：MPublishing
摘要：Abstract: In his influential Provincializing Europe, Dipesh Chakrabarty noted the asymmetry that exists between European theory and non-Western history. Whereas Europe is presumed to furnish “absolute theoretical insights,” non-Western histories are consigned to supplying empirical facts that flesh out a European theoretical skeleton. For Chakrabarty, such asymmetry is unavoidable, as non-Western thinkers of the past are unable to provide resources for “critical thought” and thus are “dead.” In this paper, I will ask whether it is indeed a foregone conclusion that the theorists of the non-Western past are dead. By teasing out the implications of The Disquisitions on the Imperial System by Gu Yanwu (1613–1682) for the study of the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220), I demonstrate that it is not only possible but also productive to engage the theoretical traditions of the non-Western past.
