Sima Tan

Sima Tan (traditional Chinese: 司馬談; simplified Chinese: 司马谈; pinyin: Sīmǎ Tán; Wade–Giles: Ssu-ma T'an; c. 165–110 BCE) was a Chinese astrologer and historian during the Western Han dynasty.

Education & career

Sima Tan studied astronomy with Tang Du, the I Ching under Yang He, and Daoism under Master Huang.

He was appointed to the office of Court Astrologer (太史令) at age 25 in 140 BCE, a position which he held until his death.

An essay by him has survived within the Records of the Grand Historian. In this essay within the larger work, Sima Tan describes six philosophical lineages or "schools" (家 jiā):

• Confucianism (儒家 Rú jiā)
• Daoism (道家 Dào jiā)
• Legalism (法家 Fǎ jiā)
• Mohism (墨家 Mò jiā)
• School of Names (名家 Míng jiā)
• School of Naturalists (陰陽家/阴阳家 Yīnyáng jiā) (central figure Zou Yan)

The categorization of earlier philosophers into these six schools was fairly original. As for his assessment of these schools, it is rather biased towards Daoism, as Sima Tan was a follower of Huang-Lao, an early Han form of Daoism. Although Sima Tan began writing the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), he died before it was finished; it was completed by his son, Sima Qian.

The year of Sima Tan's death (110 BCE) was the year of the great imperial sacrifice fengshan zh:封禅 by Emperor Han Wudi, for which the emperor appointed another person to the rank of fangshi, bypassing Sima, probably causing him much consternation.

See also

• Sima Qian
• Shiji
• Daoism

References

• Sima Qian (1993). Records of the Grand Historian of China – Qin Dynasty. The Research Centre for Translation. Translated by Watson, Burton (hbk ed.). Hong Kong, ZH; New York, NY: The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-08168-5. ISBN 0-231-08169-3 (pbk ed.)
• de Bary, W.T.; Bloom, I. (1999). Sources of Chinese Tradition. 1 (2nd ed.). New York, NY.
• Graham, A.C. (1989). The Disputers of the Tao. La Salle, IL: Open Court.