The Reading of the Mencius by Korean Confucian Scholars: Rhetorical Exegesis and the Dao

Abstract

When Joseon Korea scholars were interpreting the Mencius (孟子: K. Maengja or Mengzi), they were focusing on its content and on its rhetorical elements at the same time. For a given commentator, selecting various rhetorical features (such as grammatical and lexical specificities) meant to read the dao 道 (K. do) of the Mencius in a fashion different from the one expounded by other scholars. In this article, I examine the relationship these commentators were establishing between the textual patterns of the Mencius and the encompassing reality, dao, as understood by this latter work. Specifically, I focus upon the works of two Joseon scholars—Yi Hwang 李滉’s Maengja seogui 孟子釋義 and Wi Baekgyu 魏伯珪’s Maengja chaui 孟子箚義. Through their reading, I notably attempt to (a) describe how rhetorically oriented exegeses had been maturing throughout this era; and to (b) elucidate how Korean commentators, through their rhetorical commentaries, put forward interpretations that differed from the ones propounded by the orthodox tradition as exemplified by Zhu Xi.