philosophy of chinese character

• Main Authors: marywater, 張宏如
• Other Authors: MACOB WEI
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/09213116948029124990

碩士 === 華梵大學 === 哲學系碩士班 === 96 === As we have found out that in Western literature there are so-called linguistic philosophy, symbolism, yet there is not a written character study, a probable cause could be that as led by the Western approach of a spelling system, which regards the study of linguistic symbols a the study of written characters, thus leading to the lack of a study on written characters. On the contrary, to examine the development of the Chinese literature, as the study of the written characters had already been an independent subject as early as three thousand years ago, the outset of Hsu Shen’s writing the “Linguistic Interpretation and Written Characters Deciphering” had begun focusing on studying the Mandarin characters, and the study of the Mandarin written characters over several thousand years had been an great elation in itself! Yet most regretfully is how we have not developed so-called Mandarin written character culture, which the author reckons that as linguistics are an ancient study, whereas Mandarin character philosophy remains a relatively new subject, consequently the author reckons that at a time when the Han culture and the Han study are steadily gaining momentum, it is prudent for us to instill a so-called “Mandarin characters’ philosophy theory”. When it comes to examining the philosophy behind the Mandarin characters, the author reckons that there is a need to break free from the conventional study of the written characters and the Western linguistic symbolism, but to broach from the substance, origin, structure and approach of the Mandarin characters from a philosophical standpoint, and to map out a Mandarin characters’ philosophy theory from different perspectives. As the study intends to explore one of the probable concepts of the Mandarin characters’ philosophy broaching from the graphic imagery approach, and while that traditionally the Han tended to combine graphic imagery and abstractive imagery with an abstractive approach, whereas the West tended to depict graphic imagery and abstractive imagery with a graphic approach, consequently the author has adopted the explanation for the varied theories how the Chinese and the West view graphic imagery and abstractive imagery to interpret the philosophical problem the Mandarin characters encounter. In analyzing the origin and substance of the Mandarin characters, the author broach it from the “Abstractive imagery” concept familiar to the Han people; in interpreting the approach behind the Mandarin characters’ graphic and abstractive imagery, the author begins by discussing the inherent significance of the tangible imagery, abstractive imagery and inexplicit imagery from the philosophical and aesthetical angle in a bid to attempt to further describe on what perspective do the Mandarin characters’ graphic and abstractive imagery fall; in tackling the structure of the Mandarin characters, the author quotes the Western linguist Wegenstein’s graphic theory to interpret the structure correlation of the Mandarin characters. As the study’s ultimate objective lies in mapping out a Mandarin characters’ philosophy theory, the study has been divided into five chapters: Chapter I covers the definition of written characters; Chapter II covers the origin and substance of the Mandarin characters; Chapter III covers the Mandarin characters’ graphic and abstractive imagery approach; Chapter IV describes the Mandarin characters’ structural expression; Chapter V presents a conclusion.