I'm not sure what the Aristotlian or Confuician methods are, actually. I must have missed that class, so I'm not familiar with either.
You're not familiar with the names of the systems, but you're familiar with the structure of the Aristotlian system. Think back to your Freshman Comp class. The Aristotlian system is the method taught as the correct way to clearly express ideas within Western writing: intro, overt thesis, three arguments that tie back to and support the thesis, conclusion. This system comes, as one might expect, from Aristotle and has become the preferred system in the Western world and its descendants. The Confucian system is the method developed and taught by Confucius that has become the preferred method within the Eastern world and its descendants. I don't really understand the structure, though it seems to be about presenting themes and talking around them. At no point are any of the main ideas ever directly stated. The reader is expected to pull them together and understand them based on the examples and analogies offered. Literary illusions are important to this task. I'm afraid I can't explain it any better as my only real experience with the method comes from trying to teach students raised with Confucius how to emulate Aristotle. To my very untrained brain, the Confucian method reads like a mish-mash of half-formed thoughts with a lot of sudden transitions. This makes me wonder what the Aristotlian method reads like to people untrained in it.
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Date: 2009-08-03 05:03 am (UTC)You're not familiar with the names of the systems, but you're familiar with the structure of the Aristotlian system. Think back to your Freshman Comp class. The Aristotlian system is the method taught as the correct way to clearly express ideas within Western writing: intro, overt thesis, three arguments that tie back to and support the thesis, conclusion. This system comes, as one might expect, from Aristotle and has become the preferred system in the Western world and its descendants. The Confucian system is the method developed and taught by Confucius that has become the preferred method within the Eastern world and its descendants. I don't really understand the structure, though it seems to be about presenting themes and talking around them. At no point are any of the main ideas ever directly stated. The reader is expected to pull them together and understand them based on the examples and analogies offered. Literary illusions are important to this task. I'm afraid I can't explain it any better as my only real experience with the method comes from trying to teach students raised with Confucius how to emulate Aristotle. To my very untrained brain, the Confucian method reads like a mish-mash of half-formed thoughts with a lot of sudden transitions. This makes me wonder what the Aristotlian method reads like to people untrained in it.