Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s7.t6.11

v1.c7.s7.t6.11

Debate over sayings and connotations was longstanding. According to *Book of Change · Xi Ci*, “Books are unable to cover all sayings and sayings are unable to cover all connotations”. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Confucianism and Daoism got blended and the *Book of Change* was held in high esteem and explanation on “theory of change” gained its popularity. In interpreting the “theory of change”, scholars often faced up to the relationship among saying, exterior and connotation. With such questions demanding solutions, the philosophical foundation of metaphysics was laid. The “Sayings” refer to the language form, such as sound and other symbols. Connotation refers to meaning of the language and contained truth. Exterior refers to image and imago described by the language. According to theory of moralisation, there were three issues for debate over sayings and connotations viz sayings beyond connotations, sayings on a par with connotations and connotations beyond sayings. Xun Can put forward a theory of sayings beyond connotations ie “Sayings are overshadowed by connotations”, especially the sage’s connotations are unable to be revealed by exterior. Of course, the language is unable reach its deep connotation. In addition, the fundamental reason for the general things is unable to be explained exactly. This theory revealed the limitations of language, but believed that sage could break through the limitations. Ouyang Jian put forward a theory of sayings on a par with connotations ie “Exploring the law of things has to rely on the corresponding concepts and appellations. Different things have different definitions, while different emotions have different appellations. Appellations change with things. Appellations and things echo with each other. Wang Bi held the theory of connotations beyond sayings, and believed that “in the concrete world, the appellation in the language cannot accurately express the speakers’ inner meaning but the imago can convey the meanings beyond language. He put forward three concepts of “sayings” eg “exterior” (expression) and “connotation” and believed the relationship among saying, exterior and connotation as follows: “Imago described by language can fully convey speaker’s meaning, while the language can objectively describe the image. This is because the appellation in the language is derived from static image, and static image is derived from final versions of changing things and changes in the human minds. Wang Bi made argument for relationship among "sayings", "exterior" and "connotation", and further put forward the method of cognition in "understanding the exterior despite lack of the sayings and understanding connotation despite the lack of the exterior" which greatly promoted the development of metaphysics.