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Critical Essays

Lunheng

Wang Chong·Chinese

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Eighty-five essays that put Han dynasty common sense on trial: that Heaven rewards virtue with good harvests, that the dead walk as ghosts, that thunder is punishment. Wang Chong tests each belief against observation and plain reasoning and lets most of them fail — the most sustained work of skepticism ancient China produced.

People say that the dead become ghosts, are conscious, and can harm men. If we test this by comparison with other creatures, the dead do not become ghosts, have no consciousness, and cannot injure anyone. Man is a creature; creatures are also creatures. When a creature dies it does not become a ghost — why should man alone become one when he dies?

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