The Rise of Individual Personhood in Early Medieval China

The term “Early Medieval China” usually refers to the Wei Jin period, also known as the Wei Jin Southern and Northern dynasties (Wei Jin Nanbei chao 魏晉南北朝). This era was characterized by extreme sociopolitical circumstances, marked by constant instability, upheavals, wars, corruption, intrigues, external invasions and the exhaustion of the population. These conditions led to significant and unprecedented social and intellectual transformations that profoundly impacted Chinese culture, especially in the fields of philosophy and art. This article explores the cultural and philosophical ideas of the period that contributed to the rise of individual personhood, which emerged as a response to the suppressive and authoritarian Han Confucianism, which was heavily influenced by Legalist doctrines. Neo-Daoism, the most important stream of thought that arose from the political turmoil of the period, provided intellectuals with a refuge during these traumatic times, allowing them to explore new ways of philosophizing and experiencing an aesthetic way of living. The article examines the philosophical inquiries of the School of Profound Learning (Xuanxue 玄學) and Pure Conversations (Qingtan 清談) movement, which gave rise to self-awareness and fostered new perspectives on individual personhood. Izraz »zgodnjesrednjeveška Kitajska« se običajno nanaša na obdobje Wei Jin, znano tudi kot obdobje Wei Jin ter južnih in severnih dinastij (Wei Jin Nanbei chao 魏晉南北朝). Za to obdobje so bile značilne ekstremne družbenopolitične razmere, zaznamovane s stalno nestabilnostjo, pretresi, vojnami, korupcijo, spletkami, zunanjimi vdori in izčrpavanjem prebivalstva. Te okoliščine so pripeljale do izjemno pomembnih družbenih in intelektualnih preobrazb, ki so močno vplivale na kitajsko kulturo, zlasti na področju filozofije in umetnosti. Članek raziskuje kulturne in filozofske ideje tega obdobja, ki so prispevale k vzniku individualne osebnosti, ki je nastala kot odgovor na zatiralski in avtoritarni hanski konfucianizem, na katerega so močno vplivale legalistične doktrine. Neodaoizem, najpomembnejši miselni tok, ki je izhajal iz družbenopolitičnih pretresov tega obdobja, je intelektualcem v teh travmatičnih časih dajal zatočišče ter jim omogočal raziskovanje novih načinov filozofiranja in doživljanja estetskega načina življenja. Članek proučuje filozofska raziskovanja šole misterijev (Xuanxue 玄學) in gibanja čistih pogovorov (Qingtan 清談), ki so spodbudila samozavedanje in nov pogled na indivi