4. Diagrams as an architecture by means of words: The Yanji Tu

Lackner M (2007)


Publication Type: Book chapter / Article in edited volumes

Publication year: 2007

Original Authors: Michael Lackner

Publisher: Brill

Edited Volumes: Graphics and Text in the Production of Technical Knowledge in China

Pages Range: 341-377

ISBN: 9789047422655

DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004160637.i-772.50

Abstract

According to Charles Sanders Peirce, iconic representation can be divided into two types: images and diagrams. “Images” are characterized by the fact that many aspects of the signified can be found in the signifiers themselves, whereas “diagrams” are restrained to selected structural aspects of the signified. 1 No such distinction is possible for the traditional Chinese concept of tu 䜩 and its practice which encompasses both: images and diagrams. 2 Yet, during a certain period of time (roughly from the Mid-Song to the Yuan Dynasty), a general tendency towards increasing rationalisation in various fields produced a phenomenon which came very close to the second type of iconic representation, the genuine diagram in the sense of Peirce. The dia- grams discussed in this paper almost exclusively deal with textual analysis and/or the interpretation of phrases from the Classics and the sayings and writings of the founders of Daxue 䘤 唆 , the Neo- Confucian school

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How to cite

APA:

Lackner, M. (2007). 4. Diagrams as an architecture by means of words: The Yanji Tu. In Graphics and Text in the Production of Technical Knowledge in China. (pp. 341-377). Brill.

MLA:

Lackner, Michael. "4. Diagrams as an architecture by means of words: The Yanji Tu." Graphics and Text in the Production of Technical Knowledge in China. Brill, 2007. 341-377.

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