What is "rhetoric” anyway? Briared in words in Early China

The present article explores the applicability of the term "rhetoric” in a non-Western context and, in particular, the legitimacy of such an attempt in the case of Early China, where the Warring States period is traditionally considered as the golden age of early Chinese "rhetoric”. The pre-imperial and early imperial received literature provides good evidence for the employment of a well-established and clearly defined set of argumentative techniques in everyday political practice in ancient China. No handbook on such techniques has been handed down, and a proper term to define them as part of a broader, more structured activity that could match Western "rhetoric” does not appear until the medieval period. The article argues, however, that by applying a more fluid concept of "rhetoric” and by extending its scope beyond and across cultural boundaries it is not only possible but also legitimate to a certain extent to talk about a rhetorical tradition in the case of ancient China as wel

Political rhetoric in the Hán Fēizǐ 韓非子

Persuasion is one of the main rhetorical techniques employed in debates by early Chinese “wandering persuaders,” as it is attested by several examples preserved in Classical Chinese pre-imperial and early imperial politico-philosophical literature. The present article contributes to the study of persuasion by providing a detailed structural analysis of one of the most famous texts that openly deals with this technique, Chapter 12 ‘Shuìnán’ 說難 (The Difficulties of Persuasion) of the composite “Masters text”Hán Fēizǐ韓非子. Through such analysis, the article discloses the complex, multi-layered underlying rhetorical structure of the text, and the thick network of conceptual cross-references that are established among its different sections through the ingenious distribution of different kinds of text-structuring elements. As the present case study will show, this type of analysis is an invaluable hermeneutic tool that provides a substantial contribution to a better and fuller understanding of Classical Chinese texts

Estimation of gestational age from fundal height: a solution for resource-poor settings

Many women in resource-poor settings lack access to reliable gestational age assessment because they do not know their last menstrual period; there is no ultrasound (US) and methods of newborn gestational age dating are not practised by birth attendants. A bespoke multiple-measures model was developed to predict the expected date of delivery determined by US. The results are compared with both a linear and a nonlinear model. Prospectively collected early US and serial symphysis-pubis fundal height (SFH) data were used in the models. The data were collected from Karen and Burmese women attending antenatal care on the Thai–Burmese border. The multiple-measures model performed best, resulting in a range of accuracy depending on the number of SFH measures recorded per mother (for example six SFH measurements resulted in a prediction accuracy of ±2 weeks). SFH remains the proxy for gestational age in much of the resource-poor world. While more accurate measures should be encouraged, we demonstrate that a formula that incorporates at least three SFH measures from an individual mother and the slopes between them provide a significant increase in the accuracy of prediction compared with the linear and nonlinear formulae also using multiple SFH measures

Textual criticism of the Gongsun Longzi: The Daozong and Shuofu editions

The present article compares the two principal received editions of the Gongsun Longzi in the Daozang and the Shuofu collections. Exploring the considerable number of textual variants between these two editions, the analysis challenges the acknowledged status of the Daozang as the superior version. Instead, both the Daozang and the Shuofu editions are at times inferior or superior to one another. Therefore, in the interpretation of the Gongsun Longzi both editions need to be consulted in order to unravel certain obscure passages. Altogether, due to the generally high degree of coherence between the two editions, the understanding of the Gongsun Longzi is significantly affected by textual variants only in a limited number of cases. This further suggests that the Daozang and Shuofu editions do not represent two separate lines of transmission but rather two textual witnesses of a common line. 
Cet article compare les deux principales éditions reçues du Gongsun Longzi, recueillies respectivement dans le Daozang et dans le Shuofu. L’analyse des multiples variantes textuelles entre les deux versions conduit à remettre en question la supériorité généralement admise de celle du Daozang. En réalité, chacune des deux éditions est suivant les cas supérieure ou inférieure à l’autre. Pour interpréter le Gongsun Longzi il convient par conséquent de consulter l’une et l’autre si l’on veut éclaircir certains passages obscurs. Dans la mesure où dans l’ensemble les deux éditions présentent un degré élevé de cohérence entre elles, les cas où la compréhen­sion du texte est affectée de façon significative par les variantes restent finalement peu nombreux. Ce qui suggère que les versions du Daozang et du Shuofu représentent non pas deux lignées séparées de transmission, mais plutôt deux témoignages d’une seule et même lignée

What is rhetoric anyway? Briared in words in Early China

The present article explores the applicability of the term “rhetoric” in a non-Western context and, in particular, the legitimacy of such an attempt in the case of Early China, where the Warring States period is traditionally considered as the golden age of early Chinese “rhetoric”. The pre-imperial and early imperial received literature provides good evidence for the employment of a well-established and clearly defined set of argumentative techniques in everyday political practice in ancient China. No handbook on such techniques has been handed down, and a proper term to define them as part of a broader, more structured activity that could match Western “rhetoric” does not appear until the medieval period. The article argues, however, that by applying a more fluid concept of “rhetoric” and by extending its scope beyond and across cultural boundaries it is not only possible but also legitimate to a certain extent to talk about a rhetorical tradition in the case of ancient China as well

VIDINIS IR IŠORINIS PASAULIAI: DAIKTŲ, MATERIJOS IR PROTO PRIGIMTIS PAGAL GŌNGSŪN LÓNGZǏ

The present study provides an overview of the narrative of cognition as described in a largely understudied Classical Chinese philosophical text, the Gōngsūn Longzi, drawing meaningful comparisons with other works traditionally associated with the Logicians’ (mingjiā) trend of thought. The Gōngsūn Longz especially provides a substantial contribution to our understanding of knowledge construction processes in early China. According to the text, the mind has the ability to operate distinctions. It breaks reality down into meaningful, manageable units, and classifies these units according to appropriate categories. As will be shown, such ability is not only necessary for the individual to cognize the world, but also sufficient to ensure univocal correspondence between names and actualities.Šiame straipsnyje apžvelgiamas pažinimo naratyvas, pateikiamas nepelnytai mažo dėmesio sulaukusiame klasikiniame kinų filosofijos tekste Gōngsūn Lóngzǐ. Jis lyginamas su kitais tekstas, priskiriamais vadinamajai logikų (míngjiā) minties krypčiai. Gōngsūn Lóngzǐ itin svarbus pažinimo konstravimo procesams senovės Kinijoje suprasti. Pagal šį tekstą, protas turi gebėjimą veikti distinkcijomis. Jis suskaido tikrovę į prasmingus, suvaldomus vienetus ir juos klasifikuoja pagal atitinkamas kategorijas. Straipsnyje parodoma, kad toks gebėjimas yra ne tik būtinas individo pasaulio pažinimui, bet ir pakankamas, kad užtikrintų vienareikšmį vardų ir tikrovės atitikimą