Aristotle and Confucius on Rhetoric and Truth

Haixia W. Lan received her PhD in English from Purdue University with an emphasis on Rhetoric and Composition and Literary Theory. She works at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, teaching writing as a process of learning; theories of rhetorical invention; the grammar, politics, ethics of style; and comparative rhetoric. Her research is in all of these areas, and she is the academic director of 2+2 English degree program.

Introduction: Living the Form and Knowing the Way






Similarities and Differences



Rhetoric and the Other



Rhetoric and Truth



Rhetoric and Sophistry



A Twofold Argument



Translations of Works by Aristotle and Confucius

Chapter One: Aristotle and Rhetorical Invention: A Legacy of Probable Inquiry






Episteme and Techne



Sophistical Reasoning



Dialectical Reasoning



Both Sophistical and Dialectical Reasoning



Classical Rhetoric



Rhetorical Invention Today



Conclusions

Chapter Two: Interpreting the Analects: The Need to Address Rhetorical Invention






Confucius and Rhetoric








Confucius as a Rhetorician



Confucius on Rhetorical Invention








Studies of Confucius’ Analects








Religious and Philosophical Interpretations



Literary Interpretations



Rhetorical Interpretations










Two Approaches



Difficulties with Focusing Exclusively on Differences



Importance of Studying Differences within Cultures








Conclusions

Chapter Three: Rhetorical Probability: Form, Eikos, Tianming, and Rendao






Form and Eikos in Aristotle:








Truth, Form, and Logos



Form, Logos, and Nous



Form, Logos and Pathos








Tianming (天命) and Rendao (人道) in Confucius








Tianming-the-Cosmic-Order (天命)



Ghosts, Spirits, Cosmos, and Cosmic Order



Tianming-the-Cosmic-Oder and Learning



Progressive and Deferential Rhetorical Thinking








Conclusions

Chapter Four: Rhetorical Reasoning: Epieikeia, Kairos, Ren, and Yi






Enthymemes and Syllogisms



Epieikeia and Kairos in Aristotle Rhetoric








Epieikeia or Equity in Aristotle



Karios or Appropriateness in Aristotle








Ren and Yi (仁、義) in Confucius’ Analects








Ren and Epieikeia: The Enthymeme of Continuity and Change



Ren and Epieikeia: The Enthymeme and the Ideal of the Mean or the Yinyang



Yi as Kairos: Enthymemes in Action








Conclusions

Chapter Five: Rhetorical Education: Topoi, Stases, Li, and Yue






Rhetorical Inventiveness of Topoi and Stases in Aristotle’s Rhetoric








Three Kinds of Topoi



Inventiveness Topoi










Topoi and imagination



Topoi and transformation



Topoi and novelty



Topoi, opinions, probable truths










Inventiveness of Stases








Rhetorical Inventiveness of Li (禮) and Yue (樂) in The Analects of Confucius








Inventiveness of Li (禮)



Inventiveness of Yue (樂)



Epilogue: Crossing Disciplinary and Cultural Boundaries