A Study on the Phenomenon of "Attribution of Authorship" in Classical Chinese Literature: With Reference to Arabic Texts
Department of Literature, Wuhan University, Wuhan 4300702, China
| Abstract: | This article adopts a cross-civilization comparative approach to explore pseudepigraphy as a universal strategy for knowledge production and dissemination, examining its manifestations, functions and underlying logic in different cultural traditions. Firstly, it sorts out the academic research history of pseudepigraphy in Chinese classical documents, revealing the paradigm shift from traditional textual criticism to modern genetic studies, and analyzes the mechanism of "reform by invoking antiquity" and the characteristics of stratified construction behind it with Liezi and The School Analects of Confucius as cases. Then, it focuses on the systematic transcoding and integration of foreign knowledge through the strategy of "knowledge sanctification" in the Arabic-Islamic civilization during the "Century Translation Movement", with the pseudo-Aristotelian corpus as the core case for analysis. Through comparison, this paper summarizes the differences between the two traditions in the nature of authority, core strategies and knowledge processing methods, and points out their shared deep structures such as authority dependence, temporal dislocation and functional orientation. Finally, extending historical insights to the contemporary information society, this paper holds that in the face of the "post-truth" challenges brought by digital technology, we need to integrate the critical spirit of Chinese textual criticism with the openness of Arabic civilization in digesting external wisdom, and cultivate a modern cognitive literacy with both critical examination and creative integration capabilities. |
| Keywords: | Pseudepigraphy; Textual Criticism; Theory of Stratified Construction; Knowledge Sanctification; Liezi; The School Analects of Confucius; Arabic Translation Movement |
| DOI: | 10.57237/j.cll.2026.02.001 |
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Received: 12 March 2026
Accepted: 20 April 2026
Published Online: 27 April 2026
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