厳復の「天演論」の思想 : 普遍主義への試み
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概要
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Except for the missionary work in the Ming and Qing ears, Yan Fu's Tian Yan Lun was the first attempt to introduce Western thought into China. It is a translation of Thomas Henry Huxley's Evolution and Ethics. It is not a mere translation, but it has also some comparison between Western and Eastern thought. Trying to meet the needs of political reform in the later Qing era, Yan Fu found the source of Western wealth and power in Herbert Spencer's liberalism. However, he was devoted to Spencer's thought not only in the political field but also in its more fundamental view of the world. He found an acceptable view of the world in Spencer's cosmistic evolutionary theory. In order to convey these political and scientific thoughts of Spencer, Yan Fu selected Huxley's Evolution and Ethics. However, this selection offered a problem. In contrast to Spencer's cosmistic evolutionary theory, Huxley laid stress upon human ethics. His position was clearly contrary to that of Spencer. However, because Yan Fu was attached to Spencer's universalistic view, he developed arguments against Huxley in doing the translation of Evolution and Ethics. This is seen not only in Yan Fu's comments upon the original; the translation itself varies from the original under the influence of Spencer. Huxley's main concern, a search for new ethics, was completely left out of Yan Fu's version. In this paper, I have examined this phenomenon by comparing the translation with the original and have considered why Yan Fu could not grasp what Huxley wanted to say in his work.
- 東京女子大学の論文