Abstract
Mencius, the second sage of Confucianism after Confucius, is well known for his subtle argumentative skills. Mencius did not develop his own argumentation theory, but argumentation practices, including his political argumentation, have enormously inspired later scholars in China to develop argumentation theories. In this paper, we try to reconstruct Mencius’s political argumentation from perspectives of both strategic maneuvering developed by van Eemeren et al. in argumentation theory and truth-functional logic in formal logic. The aim is to manifest the Dao, a rational balance among logical, dialectical and rhetorical dimensions in Mencius’s political argumentation. The results indicate that Mencius’s political argumentation is not only logically justified but also shown to have maneuvered strategically between reasonableness and effectiveness, and that human beings have a common ground of formal and substantial logos, which makes it possible for people from different cultural groups to communicate rationally.
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Notes
Confucius (around 551 BC–around 479 BC) was a thinker, political figure, educator, and founder of the Ru School of Chinese thought, i.e. Confucianism. There have been three sages in ancient China, who are Zhou Gong (called “Yuan Sheng” in Pinyin or the pre-sage), Confucius (called “Zhi Sheng” or the first sage) and Mencius (called “Ya Sheng” or the second sage). Confucius’s teachings, preserved in Lunyu or Analects, form the foundation of much of subsequent Chinese speculation on education and comportment of an ideal man, on how such an individual should live his life and interact with others, and on the forms of society and government in which he should participate. Fung Yu-lan (1895–1990), one of the twentieth century great authorities on the history of Chinese thought, compares Confucius’s influence in Chinese history with that of Socrates in the West.
Micius (around 468 BC–376 BC), also known as Mozi, Mo Di or Mo Tse, is the founder of Mohism and a famous thinker, educator, scientist, strategist and argumentation theorist (even logician) in the Warring States period. The works on his argumentation theory is the first part, which is normally called the Mohist Canons or the Mohist Argumentation Theory, of the Micius compiled by Micius’s disciples and followers.
The Three Sages in the eyes of Mencius, different from those in Confucius’s eyes, refer to Da Yu, Zhou Gong and Confucius. Da Yu, the ideal emperor praised highly by Zhou Gong and Confucius, was the first king of Xia dynasty (about the twenty-first century BC–the sixteenth century BC), which is the first hereditary dynasty in the history of China. Zhou Gong (or Duke Zhou) was an outstanding statesman, strategist, thinker and educator in the early Western Zhou dynasty (1046 BC–771 BC) and regarded as pre-sage, meaning the pioneer of Confucianism.
Yang Zhu (395 BC–335 BC) was a great thinker and philosopher in the early Warring States period and the founder of the Yangzhu School of Taoism.
Jie, called Xia Jie or King Jie of Xia, was the last king of Xia dynasty (around the 21st century BC - the 16th century BC). He, who reigned from 1652 BC to 1600 BC, was a tyrant in the history of China.
Zhou, called Shang Zhou or King Zhou of Shang, was the last king of Shang dynasty (around 1600 BC - around 1046 BC). He reigned from 1105 BC to 1045 BC.
The formation of the 5Cs in Confucianism, however, is a continual process of development after Confucius. Confucius proposed the first three virtues. Mencius added Zhi (knowledge) to Confucius’s framework, and in the Western Han dynasty, Tung Chungshu put Xin (sincerity) into Mencius’s framework. Tung Chungshu or Dong Zhong Shu (179 BC–104 BC) was one representative of Confucianism in the Western Han dynasty. He is traditionally associated with the promotion of Confucianism as the official ideology of the Chinese imperial state.
Tung Chungshu regarded humaneness and righteousness as the highest standard of Chinese traditional morality. After Song dynasty (960–1276), humaneness and righteousness had become another name for Chinese traditional morality, and led to a term Ren Yi Dao De in Pinyin, meaning “the principle of humaneness and righteousness”.
Li is the length measuring unit in ancient China. One Li is equal to 500 meters.
Zhuang Pu was the close minister of King Xuan of Qi.
Yao (about 2377 BC–2259 BC), one of the Five Emperors, was a leader of the union of tribes in ancient China.
Shun (about 2277 BC–2176 BC), one of the Five Emperors, was a leader of the union of tribes in ancient China.
Yu, is sometimes also addressed as Da Yu in Mencius.
Analogy, in which an inference is made on the basis of similarity between two compared objects, has been regarded as the most important scheme of reasoning in ancient China.
Zhao Qi (around 108 AD–201 AD) was a Confucian who studied Confucian classics in Eastern Han dynasty.
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Acknowledgements
The study is funded by Chinese MOE Projects for Key University Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences (Grant No. 15JJD720014), Guangdong Province Pearl River Distinguished Professorship (Grant No. 2013), Argumentation Studies in Ancient China (Grant No. 17GZGX23).
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Xiong, M., Yan, L. Mencius’s Strategies of Political Argumentation. Argumentation 33, 365–389 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10503-018-9463-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10503-018-9463-0