Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 3, 2023

Rethinking the Chinese Classical Hermeneutic Tradition

(Abstract)

Li Chunqing, Meng Zhuo and Li Qingliang

Editor’s Note: Hermeneutics has a unique value in a modern, well-defined disciplinary system. It is a fundamental discipline within a fundamental discipline, as it is creatively centered on understanding and maintains the greatest possible holistic connection with the human spiritual world. The development of the discipline of hermeneutics is conducive to breaking the artificial fragmentation and disciplinary bias of the modern disciplinary system, and is of great significance to the construction and innovation of the “three systems” of philosophy and social science with Chinese characteristics.

Since the mid-1990s, the study of hermeneutics in China has achieved remarkable results, but compared to other mature disciplines, it is still in many respects in the stage of searching for a foothold. The reasons for this are manifold, but the main one is the lack of sufficient dialogue between the Chinese and Western hermeneutic traditions, especially the lack of activation of the resources and characteristics of the Chinese classical hermeneutic tradition. In recent years, with growing cultural self-awareness, self-confidence and self-improvement in the academic community, more and more scholars have realized that the construction of hermeneutics with Chinese characteristics must be based on Chinese culture, emphasize Chinese traditions, and protect Chinese values.

To this end, we have organized this special issue on “Rethinking the Chinese Classical Hermeneutic Tradition.” Li Chunqing’s article “On the Generation of Jingyi（Confucian Classics Argumentation): The Objectives and Methods of the Hermeneutics of the Classics,” takes traditional Chinese Confucian classics as the subject of research, focusing on the subject, purpose, objectives and methods of interpretation. The history of the hermeneutics of the Confucian classics has gone from “sublime and profound words with deep meaning,” through “fully analyzing the words to get at the meaning,” “using the classics to establish the argument,” and “seeking the proper meaning of the argumentation.” This outlines the continuous expansion and changes in the hermeneutics of the classics from the pre-Qin period to the Song period, providing a useful reference and inspiration for the construction of contemporary Chinese hermeneutics. In “The Modern Path of ‘Argumentation through Exegesis’: On the Hermeneutic Direction of Chinese Exegetics,” Meng Zhuo compares the discussions in traditional Han and Song studies on the topic of “argumentation through exegesis” and analyses the break with tradition in the linguistically based modern transformation of exegetics. In this context, the article shows a path for the development of modern exegetics towards hermeneutics. The discussion has a creative inspiration for traditional Chinese exegetics. In his article “On Confucius’ Hermeneutical Consciousness and Its Historical Influence,” Li Qingliang argues that the Chinese tradition of classical interpretation is essentially an activity of “learning to be a desirable man,” i.e., it is an integral practice that is closely linked to life, rather than a divisible theoretical intellectual activity. The article attempts to highlight the universality and “Chineseness” of “Chinese hermeneutics” in the dialogue and mutual interpretation of the Chinese and Western hermeneutical traditions. We expect that the three articles’ summation and reflection on the relevant issues, based on integrating the past and the present, have some significance in advancing, deepening and drawing on the construction of the contemporary Chinese hermeneutic and methodological system.