Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 10, 2024

The “Debate on Ancient Phonology” and the Development of Modern Chinese Literary and Historical Studies

(Abstract)

Jiang Meng

In 1923, a major debate over the “scientific criterion” for ancient phonology research, known as the “Debate on Ancient Phonology” broke out in the field of Chinese linguistics. This debate established the “scientifically” oriented modern research paradigm as the mainstream approach in the study of Chinese linguistics. At the same time, two other significant debates took place: the “Debate of Ancient History” and the “Debate on Science and Metaphysics.” Both the “Debate on Ancient Phonology” and the “Debate on Ancient History” dismantled the two strongholds of traditional Chinese scholarship, “ancient phonology” and “ancient history,” while the “Debate on Science and Metaphysics” enhanced Chinese scholars’ awareness of “science.” All three debates championed epistemological “truth-seeking” (qiuzhen) through “evidence-based reasoning,” marking the modernization of Chinese literary and historical studies. Chinese Marxist scholars went one step further, pointing out that the ultimate goal of “truth-seeking” is “reality-seeking” (qiushi), where historical materialism provides theoretical answers to the “why” in both the material world and the broader historical process. Since then, modern Chinese literary and historical studies gradually unfolded along the dual dimensions of “what” and “why.”