In daily study and work life, everyone has tried to write a paper. There are many types of papers, including academic year papers, graduation papers, dissertations, scientific papers, achievement papers and so on. So how to write a good paper? The following is a brief talk on the artistic skills of Mencius debate that I have compiled for you. Welcome everyone to refer to it, I hope it will help you.

Abstract: Mencius was an outstanding debater in the Warring States period and an outstanding orator in the history of China. Being good at argumentation is the most prominent artistic feature of Mencius. Its argumentation skills mainly include avoidance, transformation, seeking common ground, evasion, entrapment, circuitous, comparison, sophistry, questioning, counter-questioning, paving the way, parallelism and so on, which can be described as a collection of pre-Qin argumentation art.

Keywords: Mencius; The art of debate; Argumentation skill

In hundred schools of thought's contending and colorful Warring States literary world, Monk, a master of Confucianism, was unique and won the championship through the ages with his distinctive features of "argumentative" and "eloquent" and outstanding eloquence. The book Mencius, which was circulated in later generations, is mainly a record of its arguments. It is quite different from the positive debate in the Analects of Confucius, which only seeks words and expressions, and opposes the use of eloquence and conciseness. It is also obviously different from those works in Mozi with strict logic, simple language and lack of literary talent. Because of this, some people call Mencius "the pioneer of China's ancient prose [1]" and "the source of refuting the style of writing".

Mencius' "argument" is the result of the struggle between the times and reality. In the mid-Warring States period, he was born as a warlord. Many people said that "Yang Mo's ways are endless, and Confucius's ways are endless". In order to defend Confucian orthodoxy and publicize his political views, he had to have a face-to-face debate with various figures. As Mencius said, "Is it debatable to give?" I have to do this. More importantly, Mencius was eloquent. He is invincible in argument and never fails. There are three reasons: first, the psychological quality of self-confidence, second, the arrogance of contempt for powerful people, and third, the excellent and superb art of argument. On the first two points, Mencius has made it very clear, and the predecessors' exposition is also very detailed. Mencius did not directly explain the latter point. Although there are many expositions by the former sages, they are mostly limited to argumentation methods and logical thinking, and they are not enough to discuss his debating skills. Therefore, this paper intends to explore, appreciate and comment on Mencius' wonderful debating art from the technical level.

Debate aims at persuading and defeating the other side, and pays attention to strategy and tactics just like fighting. This is the argument in Mencius. Moreover, due to Mencius' superb wisdom and scholar status, his arguments, no matter how sharp, sensational or even fierce, are always full of artistry, and besides the smell of gunpowder, they are also filled with an artistic interest, and attach great importance to the artistic skills of argument. As long as the dead words in the book are reduced to living scenes, it is not difficult to find a series of debating skills used by Mencius. The author summarizes as follows:

First, avoidance and conversion

When Mencius lobbied the monarch and argued with others, it was inevitable that he would encounter some questions that he did not want to answer or were difficult to answer. In this case, Mencius adopted avoidance and conversion.

For example, the famous Qi Huan Jinwen (On Hui Liang) recorded a dialogue and debate between Mencius and Qi Xuanwang. At first, it was Qi Xuanwang who asked the question and said, "Have you ever heard of the bronze inscription of Qi Huan?" Mencius was asked to tell him something about the hegemony of Qi Huangong and Jin Wengong. As we know, Mencius advocated "kingly way" and opposed "overbearing", thinking that "the five tyrants are also sinners of the three kings" (Gao Zi Xia). Mencius obviously didn't want to talk about this issue of Qi Xuanwang. How can he preach the sins of "sinners" and let Qi Xuanwang follow suit! So what should Mencius do now? Mencius said to him, "Zhong Ni's.

Acts, there is no way to Huan Wen, that is, it has not been circulated or heard of since. If there is nothing to do, what is a king? "He simply avoided each other's questions and quickly changed the subject. This is called avoidance and transformation. Here, Mencius evaded by pretending not to know. What he said was not true. According to the Analects of Confucius, Confucius and his disciples talked about Qi Huan and Jin Wen many times. One of them said, "Jin Wengong is arrogant, while Qi Huangong is upright." Secondly, he said, "Huan Gong and the Nine Kings did not use chariots, but also Guan Zhong's power" to answer questions; Third, in response to Zi Gong, he said, "Guan Zhong is for the public, dominating the princes and conquering the world. Today, the people are blessed by Monta, but Guan Zhong is slightly in charge and I am staying behind" (see "Xian Wen" for all); Moreover, Confucius wrote about disciples in the Spring and Autumn Period. How can it be said that Zhong Ni's disciples have no way to do things? In Mencius, he himself talked about Huan Hewen many times, such as "Guan Zhong is a monarch and a monarch" (On Sun Ugliness); "Huan Gong is to Guan Zhong, and he is an official if he studies well, so he is a tyrant who gets something for nothing" (Under the Ugly Sun); Jin's Cheng, Chu's Mu Shou Bian, and Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals are all the same, and their works are history. Confucius said, "Its meaning was stolen by Qiu." "(Li Lou Xia) As a scholar, how could Mencius not know about Huan Hewen, and how could he say that I had never heard of it? This is obviously a lie. But in the face of Qi Xuanwang's problems, imagine that if you don't tell this lie, you will either say it against your will or refuse it. This is not a good policy. In contrast, it is wise for Mencius to pretend not to know, avoid talking and politely refuse. A wise man will also hear the implication that he doesn't want to talk about this topic. If this evasive approach is not worthy of special praise, then he suddenly turned the topic from "overbearing" to "king" and made a sharp turn of 180 degrees, and it came so suddenly that it was simply a flash of lightning, which is undoubtedly a commendable moment. This skill is very powerful, because this turn, he got rid of the unfavorable situation, changed from passive to active, and quickly grasped the initiative.

Another example is a chapter in Hui Liang Wang Xia: Q: "Teng, a small country, is between Qi and Chu. Is everything all right? What's wrong? " Mencius said to him, "This is beyond my power.

Yes If not, there is: you can build a city by digging a pool and keep it with the people. If the people go, they will die. "

It is difficult to answer the questions of Teng Wengong's "theory of uniformity of things" and "theory of uniformity of things", so Mencius avoided it with "beyond my power" and put forward one of his own suggestions, that is, digging a pool to build a city and having fun with the people. Zhu said: "The monarch died in his country, so he died defending the country. As for the people, they will stick to it and not go, but those who win the hearts of the people can't. " It can be seen that Mencius asked the other side to strengthen the garrison [2](P323), vigorously promote benevolent government, and "defend righteousness and love the people". This is also the track that will soon turn the topic into his political opinions.

Another example is "On King Huiliang" and "Meng Zi meets King Huiliang", in which Wang said, "You have come a long way, but it is beneficial to our country?" Mencius said to him, "Why should you talk about profit? There is also righteousness. " In the chapter of Mo Qiang in Jin Dynasty, King Hui of Liang wanted to avenge Qi Chu and asked, "What can I do?" ? Mencius said, "The earth is a hundred miles away, so you can be king." These are all examples of successful application of avoidance and transformation.

Mencius not only used the technique of avoiding transformation at the beginning of argument, but also often used it in the process of argument. For example, in one chapter, the king asked, "Why is this heart suitable for the king?" Ask the so-called disaster "audible"? Mencius didn't answer directly, but avoided the topic. He started another topic, asked the other person, and then obliquely introduced the original question. And the list goes on. It can be seen that being good at avoiding and changing the subject is Mencius' usual tactic in argument, and it is also an important trick that smart and eloquent people are good at using to control the situation, control the other side, avoid its sharpness, surprise and turn defense into attack.