Tłumaczenia pojęć konfucjańskich u chińskich propagatorów konfucjanizmu na Zachodzie. Strategie uniwersalizacji

Marek Tylkowski

doi:10.18290/rh26743.10

Published : 2026-06-01

Vol. 74 No. 3 (2026)

Translating Confucian Concepts Among Chinese Advocates of Confucianism in the West: Strategies of Universalization

Marek Tylkowski

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5521-5653

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rh26743.10

Abstract

This article examines the role of translation in the construction of Chinese universalist discourses in the context of the reception of Confucianism in the West in the first half of the twentieth century. The translation of philosophical concepts is approached as an interpretative act rather than a purely lexical operation, involving their insertion into Western conceptual frameworks, which affects their reception as universally valid. The analysis focuses on the translational strategies and interpretative commentaries of Gu Hongming, Lin Yutang, and Feng Youlan with regard to key Confucian concepts, primarily ren (仁) and li (礼). A comparison of their proposed translations with the traditional contexts of use of Confucian concepts reveals distinct interpretative strategies through which these concepts are endowed with universalist significance: as equivalents of religion, humanistic culture, or philosophy comparable to Western traditions. The aim of the article is not to assess the correctness of individual translations, but to reconstruct their interpretative function and to indicate the tensions that arise in the process of the universalization of Confucian concepts.

Keywords:

Confucianism, translation, universalism, ren (仁), li (礼), Gu Hongming, Lin Yutang, Feng Youlan

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