Ethos in Early Chinese Rhetoric: The Case of 'Heaven'
| Autor: | Yong-Kang Wei |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
rhetoric
media_common.quotation_subject 0507 social and economic geography Logocentrism Ethos Individualism lcsh:AZ20-999 Heaven Sociology media_common Ethnocentrism 05 social sciences ethos early Chinese rhetoric 06 humanities and the arts cultural heritage 060202 literary studies Chinese ethos lcsh:History of scholarship and learning. The humanities Cultural heritage Aesthetics 0602 languages and literature Rhetoric Ideology 050703 geography |
| Zdroj: | Humanities, Vol 10, Iss 7, p 7 (2021) Humanities Volume 10 Issue 1 |
| ISSN: | 2076-0787 |
| Popis: | Though applicable in many Western historical-cultural settings, the Aristotelian model of ethos is not universal. As early Chinese rhetoric shows in the example of cheng-yan or &ldquo ethos of sincereness,&rdquo inspiring trust does not necessarily involve a process of character-based self-projection. In the Aristotelian model, the rhetor stands as a signifier of ethos, with an ideology of individualism privileged, whereas Chinese rhetoric assumes a collectivist model in which ethos belongs, not to an individual or a text, but rather to culture and cultural tradition. This essay will be concentrating on the concept of Heaven, central to the cultural and institutional systems of early Chinese society, in an attempt to explore collective ethos as a function of cultural heritage. Heaven, it shall be argued, plays a key role in the creation of Chinese ethos. This essay will also contrast the logocentrism of Western rhetorical tradition with the ethnocentrism of Chinese tradition. The significance of Heaven in its role as a defining attribute of Chinese ethos is reflective of a unique cultural heritage shaped by a collective human desire in seeking a consciousness of unity with the universe. Just as there are historical, cultural, and philosophical reasons behind logocentrism in the West, so the ethnocentric turn of Chinese rhetoric should be appreciated in light of a cultural tradition that carries its own historical complexities and philosophical intricacies. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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