| Confucianism presented by Confucian texts holds important position in the field of China's traditional culture. In recent years, "Confucian Studies" is inchoate as a result of the revival of "Classical Studies" in China. Rhetoric plays a significant role in the history of the west. Just as "Confucian Studies" in China, "rhetorical studies" revives in the west as well. Confucianism and rhetoric come into being approximately the same time, and they both exert historical influence on the ideology and culture of human beings. For this reason, it is absolutely necessary for modern scholars to make a comparative study on Confucianism and rhetoric.Rhetorical studies mainly concern the art of discourse, as in the effectiveness, persuasiveness and identification. As a perspective of discourse analysis, after it was introduced into China in 20th century, now it is increasingly applied into discursive criticism and textual analysis.An approach of comparative study is applied in this thesis. With the help of rhetorical perspective, Pre-Qin Confucian discourse is revisited and reinterpreted in terms of rhetorical situation facing Pre-Qin Confucians and rhetorical practice conducted by them. Original and Unique points of view are proposed with proofs of textual evidence found in the Four Books, together with theories in rhetorical studies. All these efforts target at rethinking Confucianism (thoughts of other schools as well) from a different perspective, while it means neither to criticize nor to reject the universal values presented by Confucians.After a detailed rhetorical illustration on Pre-Qin Confucian discourse, conclusions are given as follows:rhetoric in western tradition focuses on the artistry and strategy of discourse, with oratory, elocution and eloquence as its disciplinary central interest; Pre-Qin Confucians haven't formulated a theory of elocution, nevertheless, they put into practice a factual Confucian rhetoric, in which ethos and artistry are both highlighted. |
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