跨越隱喻的鴻溝——論森舸瀾道家容器隱喻研究的開創性與可議性

Crossing the Chasm of Metaphors: Innovations and Controversies of Slingerland’s Analysis of Daoist Container Metaphors

美國漢學家森舸瀾（Edward Slingerland）是以「概念隱喻理論」解析中國哲學文本的先行者，他將認知語言學的研究成果跨域應用至中國先秦子書的解讀，引起中西學界高度的關注和探討。森舸瀾之首部代表作《不費力的行動：「無為」的喻意以及早期中國的精神理想》（Effortless Action: Wu-wei as Conceptual Metaphor and Spiritual Ideal in Early China）係針對「無為」之概念為考察核心而展開，本文考察森舸瀾著墨最多的道家隱喻─「容器」隱喻，分四部分評述：一、以「容器」隱喻「自我」；二、「控制自我」如「控制物體」；三、以容器概念解析《莊子》的「內外之分」；四、森舸瀾對「封」、「閉」及「無郤」的強調和翻譯問題。盼藉由譯介森舸瀾對先秦道家的隱喻解析，呈現並揭示當代西方概念隱喻研究在中國哲學領域的新議題與研究動向，另方面也期能探討異域文化進行交流研究時所引發的翻譯問題、異同問題、詮釋問題及會通問題。

The American sinologist Edward Slingerland is a pioneer who introduced conceptual metaphor theory into the discipline of Chinese philosophy. His book Effortless Action centers on the idea of wu-wei, a term first seen in the Daoist text the Loazi, and has generated extensive attention and debate among Western sinologists over the past two decades. This article reviews and examines Slingerland’s analysis of Daoist metaphors in the Laozi and the Zhuangzi, among which the “container metaphor” is given the most comprehensive discussion. Slingerland’s analysis of the Daoist container metaphor is explored in four sections: (1) the “Self as Container” metaphor, (2) self-control as object possession, (3) “Division between Inner and Outer,” as seen from the container image schema, and (4) difficulties in translating and interpreting the metaphors of being “sealed,” “closed off,” and “without cracks.” Through a close examination and comparison of Western and Eastern scholars’ studies of Daoist metaphors, this article considers salient topics in the contemporary study of Chinese philosophy and explores the challenges of translation and interpretation in cross-cultural comparative research.