Yang Xiong (author)

Yang Xiong (53 BCE–18) was a Chinese Daoist, poet, and author from modern Chengdu, Sichuan. His name written in Chinese is 揚雄, but it is frequently mistaken as 楊雄 in historical documents, for example the "Sancai Tuhui".

Yang is considered a materialist. He did not believe human nature was inherently good as Mencius (fl. 4th century BCE) had written, nor inherently bad as Xunzi (c. 300–230 BCE) had written, but came into existence as a mixture of both. His works include the divinatory "Taixuan" (太玄, "Great Mystery"), the "Fayan" (法言, "Words to Live By") anthology, and the first dialect dictionary "Fangyan". He was a close associate of the official and philosopher Huan Tan (d. 28 CE), an Old Text realist who may have heavily influenced the works of Wang Chong (27–c. 100 CE).

See also

*Materialism

References

* Chen, Keming and Zhang, Shancheng, [http://203.72.198.245/web/Content.asp?ID=57904&Query=1 "Yang Xiong"] . "Encyclopedia of China" (Philosophy Edition), 1st ed.
* Zhu, Binjie, [http://203.72.198.245/web/Content.asp?ID=65242&Query=1 "Yang Xiong"] . "Encyclopedia of China" (Chinese Literature Edition), 1st ed.

External links

* [http://www.iep.utm.edu/y/yangxion.htm Yang Xiong] , Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy biography
* [http://www.silkqin.com/09hist/qinshibu/yangxiong.htm Yang Xiong] , "Qin Shi Bu" (琴史補; "Appended History of the Guqin") article