The Jesuits decided to translate the Four Books, rather than the Five Classics, from Chinese into Latin, referring to the Five Classics from time to time. This way, Europeans would have been able to judge Chinese philosophy through these translations. In describing the Four Books (Tetrabiblii), the Jesuits emphasised how the second, (after the Daxue 大學, Magna scientia), entitled Chum Yum (Zhongyong) taught perseverance in the practice of the golden mean, aurae mediocritatis constantia. It was the work of Zisi 子思, the grandson of Confucius and disciple of Zengzi 曾子, author of the Great Learning and Master of Mencius, a text that looks more like a collection of excerpts than a book, an obscure and difficult text, so Zhu Xi introduced it in the last part of the curriculum studiorum. The article examines some passages of the Zhongyong by the Jesuit Prospero Intorcetta, and the reasons which led the Jesuits to consider the Four Books as the most authoritative of Chinese Confucian thought and most representative of intercultural dialogue.
The Language of Wisdom Between Chinese and Latin: Prospero Intorcetta and the Doctrine of the Mean
Tiziana LIPPIELLO
2024-01-01
Abstract
The Jesuits decided to translate the Four Books, rather than the Five Classics, from Chinese into Latin, referring to the Five Classics from time to time. This way, Europeans would have been able to judge Chinese philosophy through these translations. In describing the Four Books (Tetrabiblii), the Jesuits emphasised how the second, (after the Daxue 大學, Magna scientia), entitled Chum Yum (Zhongyong) taught perseverance in the practice of the golden mean, aurae mediocritatis constantia. It was the work of Zisi 子思, the grandson of Confucius and disciple of Zengzi 曾子, author of the Great Learning and Master of Mencius, a text that looks more like a collection of excerpts than a book, an obscure and difficult text, so Zhu Xi introduced it in the last part of the curriculum studiorum. The article examines some passages of the Zhongyong by the Jesuit Prospero Intorcetta, and the reasons which led the Jesuits to consider the Four Books as the most authoritative of Chinese Confucian thought and most representative of intercultural dialogue.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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