On The Conceptual Metaphorical System In The Analects

The Analects is the foundation-laying work of Confucianism.Outwardly,it is a collection of pithy sayings that mainly records the dialogues between Confucius and his disciples.In essence,it expresses Confucius’ s ideology in various fields,such as politics,society,ethics and the cosmological view,via metaphors in an integrated way.Reviewing the previous researches on the texts and the ideological system in The Analects,we find such deficiencies as fragmentization,one-sidedness and overgeneralization.To avoid these deficiencies,this dissertation takes the perspective of cognitive linguistics to dig out the hidden structure of the Confucian ideological system in The Analects at the conceptual level.In this dissertation,Conceptual Metaphor Theory,Conceptual Metonymy Theory and Idealized Cognitive Model(ICM)are used as theoretical tools to reveal the logical structure and the ways of conceptualization of the Confucian ideological system.In The Analects,REN is the upper-seat concept with rich connotations.It is manifested in an ingenious,logical and transparent way.The logical structure and contents of The Analects are constructed based on the ICM of JIA(家).The two dimensions of JIA,which are the physical dimension of the house and the humanistic dimension of the family,together construct different levels of REN and enrich its connotations.This kind of conceptualization expresses the strictness of logic and the metaphorical characteristic of the Confucian ideological system.This dissertation focuses on the metaphorical and metonymic linguistic data in The Analects.It analyzes the linguistic data combined with the experiential basis of the ICM of JIA(家)and the related literature in the pre-Qin period.This dissertation focuses on three questions: 1)the structuring principles of the ICM of JIA;2)the structural mapping relations between the sub-concepts of JIA at different dimensions and the metaphorical representations of REN at different levels;3)the structural mapping relations between Confucius’ s embodied experience about JIA and the process of pursuing REN.Based on the analysis of the metaphorical and metonymic linguistic data in The Analects,our exploration leads to the following conclusions.There exists a systematic metaphorical ideological system in The Analects whose content can be divided into four levels,which are the state,the society,the universe and the self.The first three levels belong to the macroscopic level,which talks about Confucius’ s world view and cosmological view.The fourth level is the microscopic level,which talks about the process of self-cultivation of REN.This research shows:(1)At the macro-level,the first three levels are respectively conceptualized based on one salient family relationship of each type of family CMs of JIA.(2)At the micro-level,Confucius’ s conceptualization of self-cultivation is metaphorically constructed based on the salient characteristics of the layout of the palace and his embodied experience in the palace.Details are shown as follows.At the level of the state,the political system is conceptualized based on the nuclear family CMs.In the political system,the hierarchical relationship between the king and the officials is emphasized and metaphorically mapped from the father-son relationship highlighted in the nuclear family CMs.Moreover,this hierarchical relationship is metaphorically strengthened by sets of spatial concepts,such as the orientation of the palace and people’s embodied spatial experience in the palace.At the level of the society,the society is conceptualized based on the extended family CMs.In the society,the social interpersonal relationship is metaphorically mapped from brotherhood(YOU(友)and DI(弟))highlighted in the extended family CMs.In Confucius’ s conception,the society is divided into the micro-society(the village)and the macro society(the world within The Four Seas).Respectively,DI(the younger brother’s love for his elder brother)is metaphorically applied to the interactions in the micro-society and YOU(the elder brother’s love for his younger brother)is metaphorically applied to the interactions in the macro-society.At the level of the universe,the universe is conceptualized based on the stem family CMs.In the universe,the relation between the sky and man is conceptualized by the inter-generational relationship between the patriarch and his descendants highlighted in the stem family CMs.The inter-generational relationship becomes the experiential basis for man to know about the natural law.In this metaphor,REN is metaphorically conceptualized not only as the blood tie to connect the sky and man but also as the secondary law that is entailed in the natural law.At the level of the self,Confucius emphasizes the self-directed learning and the learning from experience.He divides the process of self-cultivation into three stages which are the learning of cultural knowledge,the practice of REN and the fulfillment of REN.He conceptualizes this whole process in terms of the physical spatial characteristics of the layout of the palace.Then,based on his embodied experience in the palace,Confucius imparts his experience of pursuing REN metaphorically.In summary,The Analects is never a collection of random sayings.The sayings in The Analects are the fragmental literal manifestations of Confucius’ s deep conceptual system.Among these sayings,there exist strong inner logical connections.They together illustrate Confucius’ s world view and his cosmological view in a systematic way.Confucian ideological system is in essence constructed based on the encyclopedic knowledge of the traditional Chinese concept of JIA.The ideal order of the state,the society and the universe is constructed and sublimated based on the ideal family order.