A Comparative Study On Mencius’s "Zhirenlunshi" And Taine’s "Three Factors"

“ZhiRenLunShi” was first proposed by Mencius, which it is a kind of the values onself-cultivation and friendship in its original meaning. Then it is explained fromgenerations to generations and gradually evolved into a method of literary criticism.Finally, it has become one of the essential concepts in Chinese classical poetics, whichplays an important role nowadays. Taine put forward the “three factors” that race,environment and age are the three factors to explore the origin and essence of the art. Andhis theory has become very popular, even one of the most important ways in sociologicalcriticism. According to the literary theorist Wellek, the study of literature is divided intoexternal and internal parts.“ZhiRenLunShi” and Taine’s “Three factors” both are externalstudy and similar. That is to say, on the one hand, they both attach great importance toexternal study; on the other hand, they also both ignore the internal study. What’s more,their external studies focus on the same factor, such as the impact of age on the literature.Besides, the differences between them are also very obvious. The key of “ZhiRenLunShi”is “ZhiRen”, while Taine’s “three factors” can be considered as an objective decisiontheory. Further, the reader’s presence flickering exists in “ZhiRenLunShi”, while thereaders are completely absent in Taine’s “three factors”.“ZhiRenLunShi” and Taine’s“three factors” generated from different cultural backgrounds and modes of thinking,which have their own traditional rheology. And those result in the distinct characters andtheir own values and vitalities. Comparative Poetics recently bid farewell to the parallelstudy and pay attention to culture. And it also advocates the integration of theories, worksand different cultures. In Comparative Poetics,“ZhiRenLunShi” and “three factors” notonly have their own value dimensions, but also have great potential vitality now.Abandoning the internal and external studies and promoting overall studies, consideringthe text itself as the essence, focusing on the literary aesthetic properties may play theirpotential role.