What ‘they’ refers to?











up vote
0
down vote

favorite












The passage below is from “Japanese Philosophy – A source book.”



Their reproductive activity has neither beginning nor end; it is without temporality. The sovereign Lord Above alone is thus the father and mother of the myriad things. Through portioning its form, it gives life to all things that have form; through portioning its mind, it decrees the natures of the myriad things. When its form is portioned out, differences result, yet when its mind is portioned out, they remain the same.



It’s so confusing reading this book on Japanese Philosophy.
I want to ask what the italicized ‘they’ refer to?
Is it refer to ‘differences’ or is it to ‘natures’ or is it to any other?










share|improve this question


















  • 1




    It's impossible to answer this question without a larger context.
    – Robusto
    2 hours ago






  • 1




    First we'd have to know what "their" refers to.
    – Hot Licks
    2 hours ago










  • ‘Their’ refers to ‘principle(理)’ and ‘ki(気).’ They are two forms of force makes all things possible.
    – morti
    2 hours ago












  • Sounds like they're pretty sexy forces.
    – Hot Licks
    2 hours ago






  • 1




    Reminds me of atomism. If you haven't already, you could try to ask on philosophy.stackexchange.com
    – Boondoggle
    1 hour ago

















up vote
0
down vote

favorite












The passage below is from “Japanese Philosophy – A source book.”



Their reproductive activity has neither beginning nor end; it is without temporality. The sovereign Lord Above alone is thus the father and mother of the myriad things. Through portioning its form, it gives life to all things that have form; through portioning its mind, it decrees the natures of the myriad things. When its form is portioned out, differences result, yet when its mind is portioned out, they remain the same.



It’s so confusing reading this book on Japanese Philosophy.
I want to ask what the italicized ‘they’ refer to?
Is it refer to ‘differences’ or is it to ‘natures’ or is it to any other?










share|improve this question


















  • 1




    It's impossible to answer this question without a larger context.
    – Robusto
    2 hours ago






  • 1




    First we'd have to know what "their" refers to.
    – Hot Licks
    2 hours ago










  • ‘Their’ refers to ‘principle(理)’ and ‘ki(気).’ They are two forms of force makes all things possible.
    – morti
    2 hours ago












  • Sounds like they're pretty sexy forces.
    – Hot Licks
    2 hours ago






  • 1




    Reminds me of atomism. If you haven't already, you could try to ask on philosophy.stackexchange.com
    – Boondoggle
    1 hour ago















up vote
0
down vote

favorite









up vote
0
down vote

favorite











The passage below is from “Japanese Philosophy – A source book.”



Their reproductive activity has neither beginning nor end; it is without temporality. The sovereign Lord Above alone is thus the father and mother of the myriad things. Through portioning its form, it gives life to all things that have form; through portioning its mind, it decrees the natures of the myriad things. When its form is portioned out, differences result, yet when its mind is portioned out, they remain the same.



It’s so confusing reading this book on Japanese Philosophy.
I want to ask what the italicized ‘they’ refer to?
Is it refer to ‘differences’ or is it to ‘natures’ or is it to any other?










share|improve this question













The passage below is from “Japanese Philosophy – A source book.”



Their reproductive activity has neither beginning nor end; it is without temporality. The sovereign Lord Above alone is thus the father and mother of the myriad things. Through portioning its form, it gives life to all things that have form; through portioning its mind, it decrees the natures of the myriad things. When its form is portioned out, differences result, yet when its mind is portioned out, they remain the same.



It’s so confusing reading this book on Japanese Philosophy.
I want to ask what the italicized ‘they’ refer to?
Is it refer to ‘differences’ or is it to ‘natures’ or is it to any other?







pronouns






share|improve this question













share|improve this question











share|improve this question




share|improve this question










asked 2 hours ago









morti

338211




338211








  • 1




    It's impossible to answer this question without a larger context.
    – Robusto
    2 hours ago






  • 1




    First we'd have to know what "their" refers to.
    – Hot Licks
    2 hours ago










  • ‘Their’ refers to ‘principle(理)’ and ‘ki(気).’ They are two forms of force makes all things possible.
    – morti
    2 hours ago












  • Sounds like they're pretty sexy forces.
    – Hot Licks
    2 hours ago






  • 1




    Reminds me of atomism. If you haven't already, you could try to ask on philosophy.stackexchange.com
    – Boondoggle
    1 hour ago
















  • 1




    It's impossible to answer this question without a larger context.
    – Robusto
    2 hours ago






  • 1




    First we'd have to know what "their" refers to.
    – Hot Licks
    2 hours ago










  • ‘Their’ refers to ‘principle(理)’ and ‘ki(気).’ They are two forms of force makes all things possible.
    – morti
    2 hours ago












  • Sounds like they're pretty sexy forces.
    – Hot Licks
    2 hours ago






  • 1




    Reminds me of atomism. If you haven't already, you could try to ask on philosophy.stackexchange.com
    – Boondoggle
    1 hour ago










1




1




It's impossible to answer this question without a larger context.
– Robusto
2 hours ago




It's impossible to answer this question without a larger context.
– Robusto
2 hours ago




1




1




First we'd have to know what "their" refers to.
– Hot Licks
2 hours ago




First we'd have to know what "their" refers to.
– Hot Licks
2 hours ago












‘Their’ refers to ‘principle(理)’ and ‘ki(気).’ They are two forms of force makes all things possible.
– morti
2 hours ago






‘Their’ refers to ‘principle(理)’ and ‘ki(気).’ They are two forms of force makes all things possible.
– morti
2 hours ago














Sounds like they're pretty sexy forces.
– Hot Licks
2 hours ago




Sounds like they're pretty sexy forces.
– Hot Licks
2 hours ago




1




1




Reminds me of atomism. If you haven't already, you could try to ask on philosophy.stackexchange.com
– Boondoggle
1 hour ago






Reminds me of atomism. If you haven't already, you could try to ask on philosophy.stackexchange.com
– Boondoggle
1 hour ago

















active

oldest

votes











Your Answer








StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "97"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});


}
});














draft saved

draft discarded


















StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f476924%2fwhat-they-refers-to%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown






























active

oldest

votes













active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes
















draft saved

draft discarded




















































Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange!


  • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid



  • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.





Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.


Please pay close attention to the following guidance:


  • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid



  • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




draft saved


draft discarded














StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f476924%2fwhat-they-refers-to%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown





















































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown

































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown







Popular posts from this blog

數位音樂下載

When can things happen in Etherscan, such as the picture below?

格利澤436b