'Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee'

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at the book 'Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee', translated from Chinese to English by Robert Van Gulik. The paper discusses Judge Dee's unquenchable thirst for finding the truth, when solving legal cases. The paper further discusses how the Judge Dee novels are grounded in large societal ethical hermeneutic of Confucian and Taoist morals, where finding the truth is a sacred duty of Judge Dee's office and great dishonor would fall upon the head of any judge who accidentally condemns an innocent man.

From the Paper:

"There are some features of Dee's detection are similar to modern police work, and do not cause a non-Confucian reader to raise an eyebrow. Dee deploys psychological insight and observation to come to the root of a mystery, noting that, good Confucian he is, he has studied carefully the ancient handbooks of detection, which values the importance of knowing the character, daily life and habits of the victim and that personality supplies the clues to solve the crime. Know a person's ethics, and know the man or woman. Know the person's place in society, and know how they 'should' behave. Having an upright character is also an essential component to being a good, that is, an ethical Confucian, and defects in character must be scrutinized and used as clues, as they leave a person open to the danger of becoming a victim."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee. Translated by Robert Van Gulik. New York, Dover Publications, 1976
• Smith, Huston. The World Religions. New York: HarperCollins 1991

More papers on 'Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee':

• Book Review # 13403 : "Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee" by Trans Robert Van Gulik"
• Essay # 36031 : "Judge Dee"
• Analytical Essay # 130017 : "Two Cases of De-Motivated Workplaces"

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