Abstract

Since the transport of the western learning to the east, the discipline theory of literature gradually entered the Chinese local academic pedigree and its importance became more and more obvious.An unavoidable question is: in the contemporary academic context, how can the traditional Chinese academic data avoid the arbitrary cutting and dominating by western ready-made theoretical framework, concept systems and discourse.If the traditional Chinese learning is regarded as the same knowledge systems as western learning and the equivalent between the traditional Chinese literary theory and the western theory of literature is admitted unconditionally, the unique spiritual connotation and academical intension of the traditional Chinese literary theory may be obscured.Traditional Chinese literary theory is the discussion and study about“Wen”.With more complex meaning than aesthetic meaning of“literature”,“Wen”is in the pre-Qin period the total name of cultural symbols of that time including decrees and regulations, literary documents, rites, musics, and institution systems, which is not yet isolated“literature, history and philosophy”or the unity of classic of institution, argumentation, poetry and prose.Therefore, targeting the different cultural symbols, Confucian literary theory pointed to their cultural ideals, aesthetic expression, and the institution image in the discourse. The central theme of the dissertation is the value dimension of Confucian literary theory and bases on such a fundamental judgement: the value pursuit and spiritual appeal of Confucian“Wen”is presented as the ardently love, i dentity and the knowledge about the ideal; at the same time, the body of such ideal is“Wen”and“Yi”（Art）, which can be found in the individual（the noble and saint）and the different unity（family, state and the world）.Using the words of our time, that is, The book of Songs, The book of Document, Record of Ritual and The Book of Music as the rules of literature, art and society all have their value pursuit and spiritual concern, which constitutes the core of pre-Qin Confucian literary theory.

To understand Confucian's concern about value, the referent research must deeply root in the ideological and cultural context of that time, which requires two points: firstly, an attitude of sympathy on base of the understanding so as to be close to the pre-Qin's spiritual world.To emphasize an attitude without any prejudice is just a imagination without any meaning from the rational theory of tradition of Middle Ages, whose pursuit is“pure reason”and absolute objectivity.Secondly, a good use of different literatures.Therefore, the dissertation gets the help from the ancient research methods and achievements on the character and literature, collects and discriminates the first-hand data as far as possible; beside the masterpieces refers too many new materials sucha as Guodian inscribed bamboo-slips, Chu bamboo-slips of Shanghai museum and silk books.

In terms of method, the dissertation refers the traditional study of classics, history of thought, hermeneutics, philology and other academical resources.The interpretation of the classic texts looks for the value foundation of Confucian literary theory in pre-Qin with the clue of the important commentaries in the history and refers the context of history of thought.But the researchers of the field have also modern existing background and academic context, who can not avoid different individual consciousness and popularity of their times.Such research involves the double relations between the researchers' horizons and the horizons of texts, between the horizon of the modern time and the horizon of pre-Qin.To enter the existing context of pre-Qin's Confucian and not break away from the modern theory pursuit and problem consciousness, what is needed is a genuine integration of horizons（Horizontverschmelzung）.The dissertation tries to use the phenomenology from Heidegger, which is not so readymade and conceptualized but tends to exiting theory and the hermeneutics situation, in order to achieve a dialog and mutual inspiration and found a sound theory platform for the understanding and interpretation of the ancient texts.

Chapter 1 of the dissertation discusses the shape's evolution of character“Wen”from Carapace-bone-script, Metal-script to Small seal script, in reference to Shuo Wen and other literatures at that time, the evolution of“Wen”is from images, lines, signs to themeanful symbol combinations, and from the traces of sun, moon and stars in the sky, the traces of plants and animals on the earth to the aesthetic and moral“Wen”of human.Through a further comparison among the civilizations of the three dynasties Xia, Shang, Zhou, it becomes very obvious that the idea of Zhou's people was revolutionary.The saying“The will of the above Tian has never rule to rely on and our only support is our morality”, has evident religious and moral character, that is, the value orientation of advocating of Morality, Li and the People.In dynasty Zhou, humanism became the main stream of thought and there were so many brilliant humanism achievements.The main subject of“Wen”（culture, or symbols of culture）in Zhou dynasty is rites and relevant musics.It was the aesthetic edification and the consensus of the education of rites and musics, shaped the“Rites Community”on the base of the cultural identity.This character of Zhou's Wen sets the spiritual orientation of Confucian in pre-Qin, who constructed this cultural community with the moral of Wen, rites and musics, and took it as the method of communication to the group not belong to their community: when the distant will not submit to us, we must cultivate our moral to attract them to us.（The Analecs·Ji Clan）

Chapter 2 discusses the value basis of the Confucian literary theory of preQin.“Fondness for the ancient”,“Submitting to Zhou's culture”, such sayings make it clear, that Zhou's culture is the translation with which Confucius identified.The translation mentioned here is not the authority criticized by the Enlightenment, but the active elements forming in the history and the pre-horizon which makes understanding possible.The translation of Confucian is not only the historic, empirical and concrete Zhou's Wen（culture）, but also its Dao（Way, Method, Spirit）.“Where is Dao, Where is Wen”, the realization of Liu Yi（the six arts for the noble）in the individual is the shape of the personality and the value ideal.Therefore the Confucian's discussion about Wen（literature）, poetry, rites and music always ended with discussion about goodness and morality.“Tian Ming”（the will of the above Tian）is an important idea from The Book of Songs and The Book of Documents, which means the endless creation（The greatest morality of the sky and earth is Life）.

The above Tian gives all of the world rules, and the awareness of the will of Tian means the consciousness of the meaning to be a man,“Where is Dao, Where is Wen”, therefore the will of Tian is also the will of Wen, which is the moving, presentation and realization of metaphysical Meaning in man's heart, and the possibility of promoting and sublimation which is presented by the brilliance of the ideal to man.Such ideal is expressed by Schwartz as“transcendent breakthrough”.In the Confucian thought, Tian Dao is both transcendent and immanent, which has at the same time the religious and moral meaning.Man's relation with the transcendence exists in his existing form, the transcendental and ultimate ideas show themselves ordinarily not in a system or form way, but with a situational form in the living and text world of Shi（The Book of Songs）, Shu（The Book of Documents）, Li（The Record of Rites）, Yi（The Book of Changes）and Chunqiu（The Book of History）.Its idea is never presented as a pursuit only for one moment, one place, one state or one party, but always places the individual's concern in the context and totality of the world, man and Dao.

Chapter 3 discusses the Dao of writing.Poetry is wrote because of mental disposition and the argument“Stimulating in the Poetry”means that without strong emotions such as anger and depressing there will be no The Book of Songs.The original feeling experiences presented by poetry is the truest and purest expressing about the existing experience, it is also the source of the forming of aesthetics and aspiring for Dao.Through the research of“Shi Yan Zhi”（the poetry expresses the heart）,“Shi Wu Lin Zhi”（the poetry should not hide the heart）, and“Fa Hu Qing”（the poetry is born from the feeling）, it is known that feeling, aspiring, natural character and Dao have the same well and related to each other.Discussion about the poetry is a hermeneutic process and what is important is to experience and observe the motive of the writer and to enter the feeling of the writer's existing context, so we can achieve the Horizontverschmelzung, which is the meaning of“Yi Yi Ni Zhi”（from the expressing of writing we know the motive of its writer）and“Zhi Ren Lun Shi”（we must know the writer himself and his time well to judge his works）.The relation between the Li（Rule）and Qing（Feeling）in the Confucian's ideal is not simply relation of refraining and being refrained, but the harmony from mutual moving and inspiring.

Chapter 4 discusses further the relation between Li（rules）and Qing （feeling）, goodness and beauty.Neutralization as the Confucian's aesthetic ideal is the middle way, which is neither leaning nor slanting, neither exceeding nor insufficient, and it is the overall standard of the the character of adornment, beauty and goodness.When something is used to compare with the morality of the noble, the basic of such comparison is the relation among the existing in the world, whose mutual moving and inspiring in Mitsein show itself as mutual comparison and inspiring.The feeling about the beauty and substance of morality inspired in such comparison is the important method of Confucian's cultivating to awake the identity and engagement to morality.The relation between the adornment and the substance is also the relation between the goodness and beauty.To shape the individual and the community which is both good and beautiful is always the Confucian's ideal.The ultimate of the ideal is“Zhi Shan”（the highest goodness）, which is the totality of all aesthetic, thoughtful and moral experience and the real source of spiritual life.The highest goodness or truth is presented true and beautiful through poetry, the living artistic context constituted by the poetry's language is the starting point of Confucius's education of Shi（The Book of Songs）, which is with the truest method pointing to Dao.

Chapter 5 discusses the Wen about rites.Rites can set the feeling and heart in order, and get rid of flippancy and recklessness.But they need the moving of the feeling to enter the situation of the real rites, which are not a ritual model with stiff and mechanical form.This is related to the aesthetic character of rites.The ancient Chinese society has an order full of aesthetic nature.The aesthetic order bases on the practice idea, which means that the practice is a continual creation process in a context with concrete and special elements and some kind of engagement and experience without media of conception.The truth of rites is a symbolic truth.Every ritual action has some given meaning, expressing some wish and produces the feeling of respecting because of the hearty of the participants, produces beauty because of the formal harmony.The feeling of respecting and beauty is not an individual experience, but a consensus, which holds a group as a ritual community.The poetry and the rites are both ways looking for the higher and more original It is not through the poetry to understand the rites, but through the poetry to understand the higher or the more original, then looking back from the higher and the more original, it will be no difficulty to understand the rites.The same is the way understanding rites through poetry.