| This thesis studies how Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao interpreted Marxism before the turn of 1920. Data are collected through comparative textual analysis, with particular attention to how specific words are used, and how arguments are arranged. I argue that their interpretation was shaped by a particular discursive pattern called moral discourse. This moral discourse was a product of complex interaction among the voluntaristic language bequeathed by traditional Chinese culture, the structural effects of a newly formed public sphere, and the historical conjunction of deinstitutionalization of discourse. Theoretically, this thesis is intended as a critique of the objective approach to sociology of knowledge. A discursive approach is proposed, primarily treating knowledge as discourse. The purpose is to persuade sociologists to take language into account seriously. |
