「文」的概念是中國、以及(近現代以前)漢字圈傳統的思想、文學、乃至政治中的最重要概念之一,而「修辭」概念亦屬此譜系。這一事實百年來卻漸漸為大家所淡忘。本文將從語言思想角度,梳理「修辭」概念之現代嬗變,進而探討與「文」概念的關聯。現代意義上的修辭學是東亞西化現代性的產物,它始於明治日本,後傳入、確立於民國初期的中國,是五四新文化運動的結果之一。本文也將梳理這一由日本至中國的過程,然而將側重於語言思想之現代嬗變問題,以及理論上由此引發的問題,如修辭與現代意義上的語法學之間不可調和之理論問題,也將檢討語法中心化現象與科學主義的關聯。總之,語言傳遞方式與現代性之間的關聯如何深刻地影響現代意義上修辭學的確立,乃是本文的核心主題。
"Wen" (文)was one of the most important theoretical concepts within the literary and even political traditions of the East Asian Sinitic sphere before the modern era. Another term, "xiuci" (修辭), now translated as "rhetoric," was also a key critical concept within "wen". However, one of the outcomes of East Asian modernity is that these historical facts have fallen into oblivion. This author carefully tracks changes in linguistic thought in modern China and attempts to shed light on their linkage with the emergence of rhetoric as a modern discipline in China under the strong influence of the Western rhetoric via Meiji Japan. This author argues that the emergence of rhetoric as an imported discipline rests on both the May-Fourth generation's belief in an ideology of scientism and their royal acceptance of metaphysical views on language.