Teng Shih
Teng Shih (l. c. 500 BCE) was a Chinese Sophist and lawyer who lived and wrote in the province of Cheng (Pengcheng, modern-day Xuzhou, Jiangsu province) during the era of the Spring and Autumn Period (c. 772-476 BCE) which preceded the Warring States Period (c. 481-221 BCE) in China.
He is associated with the informal school of Relativism which maintained that any declaration of 'truth' was relative to the individual and is best known for teaching 'the doctrines of the relativity of right and wrong'. He is also famous for his persistent opposition to the government of Tse-Tsan (d. 522 BCE), the magistrate of Cheng who disapproved of his philosophy, and his clever methods of expressing his dissent.
The period in which he lived was a chaotic time during which the waning power of the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BCE) resulted in seven states – which had already absorbed many other smaller ones – fighting each other for control of China. This period gave rise to the Hundred Schools of Thought, a figurative phrase referencing many different schools of Chinese philosophy established at this time, largely, in response to the disorder and instability caused by the wars. Among the many, 14 were considered most notable by later Chinese historians:
Confucianism
Taoism
Legalism
Mohism
School of Names
Yin-Yang School
School of Minor Talks
School of Diplomacy
Agriculturalism
Syncretism
Yangism (Hedonist School)
Relativism
School of the Military
School of Medicine
Some of these, such as Confucianism and Mohism, were formal schools but many, such as Teng Shih's, were not; they were, rather 'schools of thought' promoted by a founder and a few followers. Teng Shih may have influenced The School of Names, established in the 3rd century BCE (also known as the School of the Logicians), but was definitely associated with the school of Relativism.
This philosophy was considered subversive by Tse-Tsan (about whom almost nothing else is known) who, after repeated conflicts with Teng Shih, had him executed shortly before his own death in 522 BCE (though this may have occurred under Tse-Tsan's successor). Teng Shih's works were largely destroyed by the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE) which rose to power at the conclusion of the Warring States Period. His philosophy, and the few details of his life still extant, were preserved in Confucian works which were hostile to him. In the present day, he is most often referenced as a Chinese counterpart to the Greek relativist Protagoras of Abdera (l. 485-415 BCE) with whom his philosophy accords closely.
The Hundred Schools of Thought & Relativism
The Zhou Dynasty had been a decentralized state which established a vast territory by allowing lords, loyal to the king, to found their own separate, and almost autonomous, kingdoms, which paid taxes and supplied armies to the king. Although this policy worked well at first, and the Zhou prospered at every level, in time the kingdoms grew to form their own states which became more powerful than the king. Around 771 BCE, the Zhou were forced to move their capital east in response to barbarian invasions from the west, and this begins the era known as the Eastern Zhou Period (c. 772-256 BCE), which corresponds to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period when the seven separate states which had now absorbed the many weaker ones fought amongst themselves for supremacy.
The Zhou were too weak to do anything about the conflict and, as its authority weakened, so did the bureaucratic administration it had established. Scholars, teachers, and philosophers who were previously employed by the state lost their positions and so founded their own schools to develop their own philosophies. This movement is known as the Hundred Schools of Thought (meaning “many”, not a literal count of 100), which produced some of the most influential philosophies in Chinese and world history.
Although it is unknown how Teng Shih's relativism developed, it was most likely in response to the many different solutions being proposed by these schools in rectifying the conflict of the era. Each school claimed to have the best solution to reforming government policy, helping the lower classes, ending the wars, and establishing peace and, at the same time, discredited the others in elevating their own. The solutions offered by each of the schools were self-evidently true to them while simultaneously seen as lacking by the others.
In this climate, the conclusion that no claim to truth could be objectively proven, and that any 'truth' was only 'true' to the claimant of that truth, would be a rational response. Teng Shih would have agreed with Protagoras' famous statement usually paraphrased as “a man is the measure of all things” meaning truth is relative to each individual. Without an objective standard of truth on which all can agree, any claim to truth – especially regarding philosophical matters - must be subjective.
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