Perspectives on Classical Chinese Theories of Rhetoric

Heisey, D. Ray

The paper emphasizes the current trend in cross-cultural scholarly communication and research to demonstrate the importance of studying theories of rhetoric from non-Western cultures. Rhetoric should not be viewed as a Western phenomenon but as a product of culture and specific to a given civilization. Such theories are more properly studied as a comparative study. As an illustration of this approach, this paper selects Chinese classical texts for examination. The paper examines three perspectives from classical Chinese texts in order to determine relative emphases on private, public, and political discourse in Chinese society. The texts chosen are those of Confucius, Hsiin Tzu, and Zhuangzi. Selected writings are examined with a view to analyzing how and in what ways these classical scholars conceive their writings as a theory of discourse for rhetorical purposes.

rhetoric，Chinese，classical theories，Confucianism，Taoism，Hsiin Tzu，Zhuangzi，discourse，communication，political，moral，ethical，argumentation，accommodation，persuasion，cooperation，adaptation

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