Conceptual Metaphors for 'Xin' in Confucianism: Based on 'Xin' in The Four Books

摘要

"Xin" is usually understood as honesty, integrity, trustworthiness, faithfulness, or sincerity. It is considered as an essential concept of Confucianism and is commonly recognized as the standard of value and virtue for Chinese people. Up to now, a lot of scholars have studied "Xin" from multiple perspectives, including its translation, definition, connotation, influence, rhetoric devices, and its counterpart in western concept. Although they have made great achievements on this topic, almost all of their researches focus on the concept of "Xin" itself in isolation, which is insufficient for further studies. Therefore, this thesis is trying to investigate the conceptual metaphors for "Xin" in The Four Books based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory proposed by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in their work: Metaphors We Live By (1980). Here, by analyzing the conceptual metaphors for "Xin", this paper is going to discuss the cognitive mechanisms and conceptual system behind these metaphors. And I hope that it can at least provide a reference and inspiration when using the Conceptual Metaphor Theory to study traditional Chinese culture or philosophical concepts like "Xin".