CULTURE AND THE WAY IN ELEVENTH CENTURY CHINA

The eleventh century in China saw the rise of the literati as the political and intellectual elite and the emergence of Neo-Confucianism, two developments which influenced the further course of Chinese history. This dissertation contributes to an historical explanation of these developments by establishing the importance of the idea of culture (wen) and the various activities, such as literature and art, associated with that idea to the understanding of the rise of the literati and their definition of common values.; Su Shih had particular influence in the debates over values which dominated the literati world during the late eleventh century. He persuaded many to accept his standards for cultural activities and he offered his own approach to understanding the Way (tao) as the basis for an integrated human order. Su Shih and his major followers, the Four Scholars, sought to articulate an intellectual position, which all literati could share, which would ensure that literati could realize both the universalistic demands of the Way without ignoring the individualistic and creative demands of culture. They took a position which favored combining the accumulation of knowledge with the intuition of the source of creativity within the self.; Part I establishes the place of wen in Northern Sung. Major theoretical contributions to the concept of wen prior to the late eleventh century are reviewed and an account is given of the various kinds of activities associated with the concept.; Part II traces Su Shih's concern with wen. A general discussion is followed by an account of Su Shih's initial adoption of dual process as an idea for defining both wen and tao and his later development of an idea of how men could replicate the process of the Way in their own lives and in the continuation and transformation of culture.; Part III presents studies of Ch'in Kuan, Chang Lei, Ch'ao Pu-chih and Huang T'ing-chien which focus on the subject's changing understanding of wen and his approach to Su Shih's mature vision of the Way.