Xuanxue Hermeneutics

Rudolf G. Wagner
University of Heidelberg

Xuanxue thinkers such as Wang Bi, Zhong Hui, or Xiang Xiu and Guo Xiang shared the assumption of their predecessors that the bequests of the Sages or figures such as Laozi and Zhuangzi contained insights into the last things beyond their often trivial surface. They rejected, however, the application of externally developed decoding keys. Their analysis focused on indications given within a core group of what they considered the most important texts - the Lunyu, the Laozi, the Zhouyi, and later the Zhuangzi -about the ineptitude of language in treating the last things. They read these statements as guides for a proper handling of the language of these texts, and thus claimed that their reading was the one suggested by the authors/compilers themselves. While not interested in a “historical” reading, this strategy gave them access to the philosophical arguments hidden in these texts, and allowed them to engage in a creative appropriation of their contents without falling into the traps of a “schoolish” reading. Their rejection of any association of themselves as well as the core texts they were studying with the “schools” implies their claim to be seen as philosophers in their own right who would engage their predecessors in a philosophical dialogue that did not reduce their own role to that of writers of textual glosses. The paper will focus on the theoretical basis for Wang Bi’s reading strategy for the Lunyu and the Laozi.