翻孔子、譯孝道：以早期的《孝經》翻譯為例反思西方漢學的定位

Confucius Translated, and Filial Piety in Transwriting: Early Missionaries’ Translations of the Xiaojing

本文在近代西方有關孔子的命名與其名下經典的翻譯之脈絡下，以《孝經》為個案，綜合比較十八～十九世紀四個西方傳教士名下的譯本。藉此個案研究觀察同一部經典在不同時代與社會脈絡中所形成多元的譯文樣貌，以及所形構出來在譯本間之傳承和衍異的翻譯進程，進而析論其透過翻譯所建構的中國知識之傳承和變遷，並在此基礎之上，反思近代西方漢學作為文化際學科 (intercultural-discipline) 的方法問題。本文作者認為，翻譯作為西方漢學的要素，具備譯者與漢學家雙重身份的研究者，在此一超越中西二元的學科裡，無論是西方學者之將中國作為對象的第一序研究，或是華人學者對此一已成為學科的西方漢學之「第二序研究」，均已超越了「西學」與「中學」的二元劃分，並且展現出它們可以或甚至是必需作為對話的方法和場域之學術的要求。

This paper traces the history of the western missionaries’ contribution to sinology via synchronic and diachronic investigations of their translations of Confucian texts, especially the Book of Filial Piety (Xiaojing). Here the author is attempting to redefine “Western sinology” as an intercultural discipline and the horizon of an ongoing dialogue. This means that Chinese historians of sinology need to go beyond the simplified duality of East and West and study Western sinology in greater depth. This would entail, among other things, the need for greater scholarly attention to the connection between the early Jesuits and the Protestant missionaries in late imperial China.