Status Updates From The Victorian Translation o...

I believe that Professor Legge, in his effort to present himself as impartial, often deliberately turned a blind eye to the widespread gap between textual ideals and practical realities in Chinese history and society. As for Mr. Girardot, the author, he adopts a toxic form of “comprehensive sympathy” that borders on whataboutism—in truth, he demonstrates neither comprehensiveness nor sympathy.

I still believe that Confucianism is merely a failed compromise attempting to restrain tyranny in the absence of religious faith. Of course, Legge could find confirmation of his experiences and attain spiritual fulfillment from the Analects, but in the end, it cannot prove that such confused products as the so-called ‘universal history of man’ are the proper way to understand the world.