| Abstract |
Hellmut Wilhelm’s Change ─ Eight Lectures on the I Ching is the main introductory book for the West to study I Ching today and formulates the West’s basic understanding of I Ching. This essay attempts to discuss on what basis the West understands I Ching through the arrangement of the content structure of Change ─ Eight Lectures on the I Ching. Also, how Wilhelm overcomes the conceptual differences between the East and the West to introduce the complex I Ching to the readers in the West. Next, according to Wilhelm’s discussion on the basic problems of I Ching in his book, this essay would also discuss how Wilhelm’s concerns and methodology differ from that of the traditional Chinese study of I Ching. Finally, putting Change ─ Eight Lectures on the I Ching in the chronology of the West’s study of I Ching, this essay would observe the differences between Wilhelm’s perspectives and problem consciousness from that of other I Ching scholars in the West. Through such holistic study and investigation, I would thus like to define the historical significance of Change ─ Eight Lectures on the I Ching in the West’s study of I Ching. |
