Abstract: In this chapter, we examine The Palace of Memory by Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit who in 1577 arrived in China not only with a solid cultural background but also a mnemonic technique that would allow him to carry his knowledge across China. He taught a method of memorization and proposed a new didactization of written Chinese. On the one hand, our epistemological analysis focuses on the origins and consequences of the metalanguage used by Ricci and its didactic consequences. On the other hand, we examine these concepts from a perspective specific to psychology and cognitive linguistics.

Résumé : Dans ce chapitre, nous examinons Le Palais de mémoire de Matteo Ricci, un jésuite qui, en 1577, est arrivé en Chine non seulement avec un solide bagage culturel mais aussi avec des procédés mnémotechniques qui devaient lui permettre de transporter ses connaissances en Chine. Il a enseigné une méthode de mémorisation et proposé une nouvelle didactique du chinois écrit. D’une part, notre analyse épistémologique porte sur l’origine et les attendus du métalangage utilisé par Ricci et ses aspects didactiques. D’autre part, nous examinons ces concepts dans une perspective propre à la psychologie et à la linguistique cognitives.

Keywords: Epistemology. Matteo Ricci. The Palace of Memory. Didactics. Imageability and Categorization. Cognitive Semantics and Psychology.

Mots-clés: Epistémologie. Matteo Ricci. Le Palais de mémoire. Didactique. Imageabilité et catégorisation. Sémantique psychologie cognitive.

An overview of Matteo Ricci's work

Adopting an epistemological perspective on the history of language learning and didactic tools helps us reconstruct the genesis of linguistic knowledge. In fact, these practices are part of the transmission of metalinguistic knowledge. How did missionaries reorganize linguistic knowledge? It is in this perspective that we will examine The Palace of Memory (Xīguo jifă, 西國記法) by Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit who, in the second half of the sixteenth century in China, proposed a method of teaching Chinese characters to Chinese students based on Western mnemonic techniques.

Father Ricci proposed a method where memory is perceived as a palace in which each mental image can be stored in rooms, where each door and each staircase can enable the opening of memory sites and an individual can vary the dimension of this mental palace.