Daniel K. Gardner is a scholar of Chinese intellectual history, and this Hackett Publishing volume is his scholarly translation and introduction to the Confucian Four Books, the Analects, the Mencius, the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean, as they were canonized together in the later Neo-Confucian tradition beginning with Zhu Xi. Its strength is presenting these core texts through the specific lens by which most of Chinese history actually received them, as an integrated curriculum, rather than as isolated ancient documents, while Gardner's own scholarly apparatus explains that later framing. Its limit is that it is an introductory translated edition aimed at students and general readers, so a claim needing close textual or philological argument about a specific passage is better served by a specialist scholarly commentary alongside this accessible edition.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
Daniel Gardner's scholarly translation and introduction to the Confucian Four Books, useful for the content of these core texts rather than for how they were used ritually in later practice. NotesDaniel Gardner's scholarly translation and introduction to the Confucian Four Books (the Analects, Mencius, the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean) as canonized in the Neo-Confucian tradition. Use for the content of these core Confucian texts and their teachings such as filial piety and yi; a scholarly translated edition, not a source on how the texts were used ritually in later Confucian practice.
Citation
AuthorDaniel K. Gardner
PublisherHackett Publishing
Publication Year2007
URLhttps://archive.org/details/fourbooksbasicte0000unse
Source TypeCritical translation with scholarly introduction
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Mencius directly: "Four Books, the Analects, the Mencius, the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean, as they were canonized together in the later Neo-Confucian tradition beginning with Zhu Xi."
This source names Zhu Xi directly: "Neo-Confucian tradition beginning with Zhu Xi."
Claims Backed By This Source (41 claims)
This source backs 41 claims across the atlas. As facts: 33 well-attested. As cited relationships: 2 holds. Plus 6 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Scriptures & Texts, 24 claims: 20 well-attested, 4 general references.
- Sources, 10 claims: 8 well-attested, 2 holds.
- Articles, 5 claims: 5 well-attested.
- Doctrines, 2 claims: 2 general references.
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