Rhetorical Thoughts Of Han Feizi: A Reinterpretation Of The Master From Western Rhetorical Perspectives

For reasons not difficult to find, the Western tradition of rhetoric has been drawing the greatest attention in international studies of human discourse, while those of non-Western cultures are often ignored. Yet non-Western rhetorical traditions are just as rich and insightful as their Western counterpart, and deserve just as important a position in rhetorical studies. A case in point is the Chinese tradition. Up to the Pre-qin period in the Chinese history, the Chinese had early reached a high level of sophistication in rhetorical thinking, and among them one finds a host of brilliant rhetoricians, of whom Han Feizi is one of the most representative and the greatest.Although there have been many existing researches on Han Feizi, most of which, however, are made from political and philosophical perspectives, and even the few researches made from a rhetorical perspective tend to focus on literary features and linguistic techniques only, while it is rare to find researches on Han's rhetorical thoughts as a whole and there has been a mismatch as a result between the abundance of Han's rhetorical thinking and the recognition he has received.In view of this situation, this thesis undertakes to reinterpret Han Feizi's thoughts from a broadly based rhetorical perspective. The goals we intend to fulfill are four-fold: to inspire more scholarly interests in the study of Han Feizi's rhetorical thoughts which have long been ignored; to get a better understanding of Chinese rhetorical tradition by offering a more comprehensive profile of one of its greatest figures; to enhance the Chinese tradition's status in the study of human rhetoric as a whole; and finally, to contribute to a cross-cultural vision of rhetoric.To this end, we adopt a combination of methodologies. A more accommodative interpretive framework is constructed on the basis of a careful comparison and contrast between the western and the Chinese cultural and rhetorical traditions. Within this context, we conduct a detailed textual analysis of Han Feizi's works.Deriving insights from Western rhetorical perspectives, this paper throws light on Han Feizi's rhetorical thoughts on two aspects in particular: Han's general understanding of rhetoric and his theory of persuasion. On these two aspects, Han Feizi impresses us with his level of sophistication in rhetoric and distinguishes himself as a great rhetorician. Some of his rhetorical thoughts are so ahead of his time as to bear amazing similarities to modern understandings of discourse.