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Papers by Matthew Hamm

The term shengren or "sage" represents an ethical and philosophical ideal in Early Chinese though... more The term shengren or "sage" represents an ethical and philosophical ideal in Early Chinese thought. Because it denotes the perfected individual the sage can be seen as embodying the core values of the philosophy in which it appears. This thesis uses the concept of the sage to analyze the most prominent negative and positive evaluations of the Zhuangzi, Xunzi and Han Feizi. As well, it uses the three different conceptions of the sage to compare the texts, highlighting common themes and debates between them. By placing these three different works within a common conceptual framework, this study provides an alternative to post-Han dynasty classifications. Chapters two, three and four will explore the value systems of Zhuangzi, Xunzi and Han Feizi respectively. Chapter five will then compare the three texts to investigate general similarities as well as the shared themes of internalism versus externalism, anthropocentrism and the sage's role, as well as the sagely characteristics of agency, creativity and adaptability.

Religions 13, no.9, 793, 2022

In an age of “Big Data” the study of the history and archaeology of religion faces an exponential... more In an age of “Big Data” the study of the history and archaeology of religion faces an exponentially increasing quantity and range of data and scholarly interpretation. For the student and scholar alike, new tools that allow for efficient and accurate inquiry are a necessity. Here, the open-access and digital Database of Religious History (DRH) is presented as one such tool that addresses this need and is well suited for use in the classroom. In this article, we present the basic structure of the database along with a demonstration of its potential use. Following a thematic inquiry into questions concerning “high gods”, individual disciplinary-specific case studies examine applications to particular contexts across time and space. These case studies demonstrate the ways in which the DRH can test and disrupt ontologies through its ability to efficiently cross traditional disciplinary boundaries.

Journal of East Asian Studies, 2020

One of the most influential texts in Chinese and East Asian history, the Yijing 易經 ( Classic of C... more One of the most influential texts in Chinese and East Asian history, the Yijing 易經 ( Classic of Changes) has long been known as "the first of the (Confucian) classics," the most exalted of the five texts canonized in the Han dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE) in 136 BCE that formed the basis of the Chinese educational system until the collapse of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912 CE). The Changes originated as a divinatory text (usually referred to as the Zhouyi 周易, "Zhou Changes") in approximately the 9th or 8th centuries BCE, one of many contending divinatory systems in the late Zhou period that scholars have only just begun to reconstruct using recently excavated texts. The basis of the Changes' system is the "eight trigrams" (bagua 八卦), eight sets of three lines, each of which can be either broken __ __ or unbroken _____. Although several explanations have been offered for the genesis of these lines, for most of the text's history they have been interpret...

Early China, 2020

This article examines self and identity in the “Inner Chapters” (neipian 內篇) of the Zhuangzi 莊子. ... more This article examines self and identity in the “Inner Chapters” (neipian 內篇) of the Zhuangzi 莊子. Previous scholarship on this topic has tended to support its arguments by defining the “Way” (dao 道) as either a normative order or an objective reality. By contrast, this article argues that the Way is a neutral designation for the composite, ever-changing patterns of the cosmos that does not provide normative guidance. Within this cosmos, the human “self” (shen 身) is likewise defined as a composite, mutable entity that displays “tendencies” (qing 情) of behavior and thought. Two of these tendencies include the positing of unitary agents and the creation of “identities” (ming 名)—imaginative constructs used for self-definition. As a result of combining and reifying the two tendencies, most humans conflate their identities with their larger selves. The result is a simplified vision of an essential self that gives rise to normative judgements, blinds humans to the changing cosmos, and creat...

Philosophy East and West, 2020

Asian Studies

This paper argues that the Guodian Wu Xing consists of two interrelated sections that reflect its... more This paper argues that the Guodian Wu Xing consists of two interrelated sections that reflect its distinction between goodness (a characteristic of humans) and virtue (a trait of Heaven). Individually, each section emphasizes different aspects of self-cultivation. When read against one another, they articulate the text’s main argument that Heaven is a distant figure and that the sage, a figure who understands the Way of Heaven, is almost unreachable. As such, the text focuses on the gentleman, a figure who achieves virtue (defined as timeliness) within a dispositional context by emulating Heaven in accordance with the Way of the Gentleman.

The term shengren or "sage" represents an ethical and philosophical ideal in Early Chinese though... more The term shengren or "sage" represents an ethical and philosophical ideal in Early Chinese thought. Because it denotes the perfected individual the sage can be seen as embodying the core values of the philosophy in which it appears. This thesis uses the concept of the sage to analyze the most prominent negative and positive evaluations of the Zhuangzi, Xunzi and Han Feizi. As well, it uses the three different conceptions of the sage to compare the texts, highlighting common themes and debates between them. By placing these three different works within a common conceptual framework, this study provides an alternative to post-Han dynasty classifications. Chapters two, three and four will explore the value systems of Zhuangzi, Xunzi and Han Feizi respectively. Chapter five will then compare the three texts to investigate general similarities as well as the shared themes of internalism versus externalism, anthropocentrism and the sage's role, as well as the sagely characteristics of agency, creativity and adaptability.

Books by Matthew Hamm

Environmental Narratives in the Huainanzi and the Anthropocene analyzes the contemporary discou... more Environmental Narratives in the Huainanzi and the Anthropocene analyzes the contemporary discourse of the Anthropocene using the Huainanzi 淮南子, an eastern Eurasian text from the second century BCE. Written to preserve and strengthen the Han Empire (202 BCE–220 CE), the Huainanzi describes a mode of rulership premised on periodizing the present as the end of history that domesticates humans and non-humans. Matthew James Hamm provides a contextualized reading of the Huainanzi’s argument and uses it as a theoretical lens to read Anthropocene scholarship in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Hamm argues that—irrespective of the name or historical narrative used to describe it—the idea of the Anthropocene as a new epoch not only lacks empirical evidence, but also empowers the existing periodization of modernity to provide ideological support for environmentally destructive neoliberal structures rooted in Western European imperial orders. By doing so, the Anthropocene framework actively inhibits the transformative social change needed to address global environmental crises such as climate change and mass extinction. Consequently, this book rejects periodization as a conceptual framework for addressing those issues and advocates for greater scholarly engagement with environmental theories outside the European and Anglo-American traditions, such as the Huainanzi.

The term shengren or "sage" represents an ethical and philosophical ideal in Early Chinese though... more The term shengren or "sage" represents an ethical and philosophical ideal in Early Chinese thought. Because it denotes the perfected individual the sage can be seen as embodying the core values of the philosophy in which it appears. This thesis uses the concept of the sage to analyze the most prominent negative and positive evaluations of the Zhuangzi, Xunzi and Han Feizi. As well, it uses the three different conceptions of the sage to compare the texts, highlighting common themes and debates between them. By placing these three different works within a common conceptual framework, this study provides an alternative to post-Han dynasty classifications. Chapters two, three and four will explore the value systems of Zhuangzi, Xunzi and Han Feizi respectively. Chapter five will then compare the three texts to investigate general similarities as well as the shared themes of internalism versus externalism, anthropocentrism and the sage's role, as well as the sagely characteristics of agency, creativity and adaptability.

Religions 13, no.9, 793, 2022

In an age of “Big Data” the study of the history and archaeology of religion faces an exponential... more In an age of “Big Data” the study of the history and archaeology of religion faces an exponentially increasing quantity and range of data and scholarly interpretation. For the student and scholar alike, new tools that allow for efficient and accurate inquiry are a necessity. Here, the open-access and digital Database of Religious History (DRH) is presented as one such tool that addresses this need and is well suited for use in the classroom. In this article, we present the basic structure of the database along with a demonstration of its potential use. Following a thematic inquiry into questions concerning “high gods”, individual disciplinary-specific case studies examine applications to particular contexts across time and space. These case studies demonstrate the ways in which the DRH can test and disrupt ontologies through its ability to efficiently cross traditional disciplinary boundaries.

Journal of East Asian Studies, 2020

One of the most influential texts in Chinese and East Asian history, the Yijing 易經 ( Classic of C... more One of the most influential texts in Chinese and East Asian history, the Yijing 易經 ( Classic of Changes) has long been known as "the first of the (Confucian) classics," the most exalted of the five texts canonized in the Han dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE) in 136 BCE that formed the basis of the Chinese educational system until the collapse of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912 CE). The Changes originated as a divinatory text (usually referred to as the Zhouyi 周易, "Zhou Changes") in approximately the 9th or 8th centuries BCE, one of many contending divinatory systems in the late Zhou period that scholars have only just begun to reconstruct using recently excavated texts. The basis of the Changes' system is the "eight trigrams" (bagua 八卦), eight sets of three lines, each of which can be either broken __ __ or unbroken _____. Although several explanations have been offered for the genesis of these lines, for most of the text's history they have been interpret...

Early China, 2020

This article examines self and identity in the “Inner Chapters” (neipian 內篇) of the Zhuangzi 莊子. ... more This article examines self and identity in the “Inner Chapters” (neipian 內篇) of the Zhuangzi 莊子. Previous scholarship on this topic has tended to support its arguments by defining the “Way” (dao 道) as either a normative order or an objective reality. By contrast, this article argues that the Way is a neutral designation for the composite, ever-changing patterns of the cosmos that does not provide normative guidance. Within this cosmos, the human “self” (shen 身) is likewise defined as a composite, mutable entity that displays “tendencies” (qing 情) of behavior and thought. Two of these tendencies include the positing of unitary agents and the creation of “identities” (ming 名)—imaginative constructs used for self-definition. As a result of combining and reifying the two tendencies, most humans conflate their identities with their larger selves. The result is a simplified vision of an essential self that gives rise to normative judgements, blinds humans to the changing cosmos, and creat...

Philosophy East and West, 2020

Asian Studies

This paper argues that the Guodian Wu Xing consists of two interrelated sections that reflect its... more This paper argues that the Guodian Wu Xing consists of two interrelated sections that reflect its distinction between goodness (a characteristic of humans) and virtue (a trait of Heaven). Individually, each section emphasizes different aspects of self-cultivation. When read against one another, they articulate the text’s main argument that Heaven is a distant figure and that the sage, a figure who understands the Way of Heaven, is almost unreachable. As such, the text focuses on the gentleman, a figure who achieves virtue (defined as timeliness) within a dispositional context by emulating Heaven in accordance with the Way of the Gentleman.

The term shengren or "sage" represents an ethical and philosophical ideal in Early Chinese though... more The term shengren or "sage" represents an ethical and philosophical ideal in Early Chinese thought. Because it denotes the perfected individual the sage can be seen as embodying the core values of the philosophy in which it appears. This thesis uses the concept of the sage to analyze the most prominent negative and positive evaluations of the Zhuangzi, Xunzi and Han Feizi. As well, it uses the three different conceptions of the sage to compare the texts, highlighting common themes and debates between them. By placing these three different works within a common conceptual framework, this study provides an alternative to post-Han dynasty classifications. Chapters two, three and four will explore the value systems of Zhuangzi, Xunzi and Han Feizi respectively. Chapter five will then compare the three texts to investigate general similarities as well as the shared themes of internalism versus externalism, anthropocentrism and the sage's role, as well as the sagely characteristics of agency, creativity and adaptability.

Environmental Narratives in the Huainanzi and the Anthropocene analyzes the contemporary discou... more Environmental Narratives in the Huainanzi and the Anthropocene analyzes the contemporary discourse of the Anthropocene using the Huainanzi 淮南子, an eastern Eurasian text from the second century BCE. Written to preserve and strengthen the Han Empire (202 BCE–220 CE), the Huainanzi describes a mode of rulership premised on periodizing the present as the end of history that domesticates humans and non-humans. Matthew James Hamm provides a contextualized reading of the Huainanzi’s argument and uses it as a theoretical lens to read Anthropocene scholarship in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Hamm argues that—irrespective of the name or historical narrative used to describe it—the idea of the Anthropocene as a new epoch not only lacks empirical evidence, but also empowers the existing periodization of modernity to provide ideological support for environmentally destructive neoliberal structures rooted in Western European imperial orders. By doing so, the Anthropocene framework actively inhibits the transformative social change needed to address global environmental crises such as climate change and mass extinction. Consequently, this book rejects periodization as a conceptual framework for addressing those issues and advocates for greater scholarly engagement with environmental theories outside the European and Anglo-American traditions, such as the Huainanzi.