The Raise Of Methodology Consciousness In The Middle Of Qing Dynasty

In the middle of Qing Dynasty, textual criticism played a crucial role of the academic and ideological field meanwhile it was critiqued by kinds of academic school. The establishment and criticism of textual criticism almost constituted the core ideological discussion in middle of Qing Dynasty. The textual of the school of Qian-jia(乾嘉)had a different way from Song and Ming Dynasty above, which built a methodology that regarded explanations of words in ancient books as a foundation. The explanations of words in ancient books give server to Justice and Truth in Song and Ming Dynasty, but by the period of Qian-jia(乾嘉),it had become a precondition of Justice and Truth research which must be built on base of textual criticism. In the viewpoint of textual scholars, Tao was in the Six Classics, which should be known by research of textual criticism and institutional system with character standard. Many scholars were against this idea such as Yao Nai and Zhang Xuecheng, they criticized the methodology of textual criticism; meanwhile Yao Nai and Zhang Xuecheng developed new methodology consciousness by their Historiography and Classical Chinese Prose position. Zhang Xuecheng put forward "the Six classics were all history" to established a methodology by collating against textual criticism that monopolize the explains of Tao. Yao Nai committed to research and creation of Classical Chinese Prose, in his opinion that hid a same idea as Zhang Xuecheng——"the Six Classics were all Classical Chinese Prose". On one hand, it deconstructed the superiority of Classics, emphasizing that the meaning of the Six classics cannot be revealed only by textual criticism; on the other hand it highlighted the importance of Classics Chinese Prose which expressed Tao. Therefore his methodology contained knowing and action:studying the meaning in Classics by analyzing its rhetoric; expressing the understanding of Tao by form of Classics.