Beyond Doubt—A Comparative Study of Divinatory Theories and Practices in Republican Rome and Ancient China

Cicero’s seminal treatise, De Divinatione, demonstrates a nuanced approach that concurrently affirms and questions the significance and suitableness of divinatory practices. This dialectical perspective finds a parallel when looking at two ancient Confucian scholars, Dong Zhongshu and Xunzi, each of them offering a version of the conundrum highlighted by Cicero’s treatise. A comparative examination of Stoic philosophy, as expounded by Cicero, and of Dong Zhongshu’s The Interactions between Heaven and Humankind underscores the fact that both traditions assert that some form of interconnection between natural and supranatural phenomena is to be found. In parallel the comparison between Cicero and Xunzi (both exponents of classical rationalism) reveals their shared rejection of divinatory speculations, albeit with an acknowledgment of the political and cultural necessity of maintaining and supporting the associated ritualistic practices. Our dual comparison reveals the complex tension that was at play between speculative constructs and practical rationality in the ancient Chinese and Greco-Latin intellectual traditions.