Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.9, 2019

The Ideological Method and Discourse Mode of the Zhuangzi from the Perspective of Public Reason during the Warring States Period

(Abstract)

Yu Xuetang

“Bian辨 (dialectic)” is the ideological method commonly used by Chinese philosophers during the Warring States Period, “bian 辩 (argument)” is the popular discourse mode for them, these two constituted the two cornerstones of the public reason of the Warring States. Confucians, Mohists, Taoists, Legalists, and Logicians not only practiced “dialectic” and “argument,” but also discussed both. Pre-Qin philosophers all attached importance to “dialectic,” but had different attitudes to “argument.” The prevalence of debate during the Warring States Period had spawned many public issues that focus on discrimination. Despite its adjustment of controversies, Zhuangzi still advocates the discerning of objects, and the doubt about and analysis of the certainty of concepts as an important method. Although the book is remarkable for its preach of “not arguing,” argumentation is also a common way that it uses in its discourse. Naming and logic analysis are the development patterns of the dialectic in the Zhuangzi. Its naming is to propose concepts in a purely rational world and define them. Progressive analyses to excavate the truth of things are the distinguishing features of the dialectic in the Zhuangzi. For the analysis of certain public issues in the Zhuangzi, its naming and analytic mode expanded and deepened the connotation of public reason in the Warring States Period. The Zhuangzi raised the artistic level of the argumentative essay to a new height with a discourse that is good at discrimination and analysis.