孟子“以意逆志”的语义学诠释——基于修辞理解角度

东汉以还,众多学者对孟子的"不以文害辞,不以辞害志。以意逆志,是为得之"进行了注释、疏解,但仍然众说纷纭,莫衷一是。从修辞理解的角度看,"文"、"辞"、"志"、"意"固然是准确理解孟子"不以文害辞,不以辞害志。以意逆志,是为得之"的关键,而"逆"更是关键中的关键。它包括了"自下而上"与"自上而下"两个方向的解读过程,涵盖面广,表现力强,可用"推求"对应之。"以意逆志"的过程,实际就是融"意""志"为一体、由已知而未知、"推陈出新"的理解、阐释过程。

A Semantic Interpretation of Mencius' Inducing the Original Intention from the Understood Meaning:A Rhetoric Perspective

Ever since the Eastern Han Dynasty many scholars have explained and expounded the Mencius’ saying that "In explaining an ode,one should not allow the words to obscure the sentence,nor the sentence to obscure the intended meaning.The right way is to trace the intention of the author with sympathetic understanding." However,so far no consensus has been reached on the exact meaning of Mencius’ principle for interpreting the classics.From the rhetoric perspective,although "word"(wen,文),"sentence"(ci,辞),"intention"(zhi,志) and "understanding"(yi,意) are all key to understanding the Mencius’ saying,the word "induce" is the utmost.It implies a bidirectional process-both "bottom-up" and the "top-down",with rich connotations and vigorous expressiveness.Its modern Chinese equivalent should be推求(tuiqiu,meaning to induce).To induce the intention of the author with the reader’s sympathetic understanding means to get to know the unknown world based on what one has already mastered.This is a process of "getting new understanding based on what has already been known".