The Dialogue between Confucianism and its Translations

Abstract

Using the translation of Confucian classics as an example, this article discusses the possibility for translations to serve as two-way bridges between two cultures. While translating is often seen as a one-way process, used to export ideas from the source language and culture to those of the recipients, the challenges in translating, and the solutions offered by the translator, may provide valuable insight, even to the benefit of the source culture. This article looks at the Confucian concept of ren (仁), and through its differing translations in different source texts and contexts, suggests that an understanding reached through translation may enrich the intuitive or even analytical understanding of the concept that pre-exists in the Chinese context. *

Confucian Translation Problems and a Phenomenological Solution

“…Chinese concepts are more like living organisms than static objects, the latter being usually the case in European languages. A Chinese concept is thus a creature of a different linguistic universe and also represents a separate ideational universe (Kallio, 2022).…”

“…In a sense, it could be said that translations of Confucianism have been deeply trapped in the Western logicism, even unable to define the interpretations of Confucian scriptures done in the past and the English translations based on them. According to Kallio (2022), there are immense challenges related to the translation of Chinese classics into European languages. Perhaps the biggest one is related to philosophical and other concepts.…”