Sincerity (cheng) and Stratagem-Based Forcing of Fate

Abstract

The article discusses key features of the Chinese rationalization of the mythologeme “fate” (ming) through the traditionally canonized ideographic reading of the character for “sincerity” (cheng), which unites “speech” (yan) and its “implementation” (cheng). The binarity of this character, which claims to be the central word centering the entire space of Confucian discourse, vividly depicts the successful crossroads of the spoken word and the corresponding deed. The focus is on the problem of articulating the concept of logical necessity in the archaic language of predetermination. If the performative of fate’s verdict, imprinted by the ideogram cheng, automatically translates heavenly command (tian ming) into action, then the human imitation of heavenly “sincerity”, in the absence of performativity, requires special effort to ensure that one’s own utterances acquire the immutability of fate’s decrees. The author’s concept of “stratagem-based forcing of fate” is intended to explain the surprising success of such an imitation. It points to the activist practice of human intervention in providential plans through stratagemically founded utterances. According to the author, within the horizon of “sincerity”, the epistemological status of such utterances reaches the level of apodictic judgment (i.e., a judgment of necessity).