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Abstract
This dissertation centers on the recovery of an ancient Chinese, specifically Confucian, language and vocabulary as a means to destabilize contemporary common-sense ways of thinking about international relations. I argue that claims to, for example, find realist sentiments or evidence of state-building in ancient Chinese texts, are cultural interpretations and express contemporary prejudices. I turn the tables on this kind of reasoning by considering International Relations discourse in light of a Confucian language and vocabulary. The translation of International Relations discourse into this new idiom serves as an interesting way to destabilize common-sense notions of international relations as well as suggest new ways of looking at the world and thinking about political possibilities in it.
