On English Translation of Yi 義, an Important Value of Confucianism
儒家重要觀念“義”的英語翻譯之提議
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Author: Gang Xu 徐罡
Date of Original Release: 2018-04-10 Site of Original Release: http://er4a2.net/bsc2019041004.html |
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Yi is one of the five core virtues of Confucianism; other core virtues include Ren仁, Li 禮, Zhi 智, and Xin 信. Unlike Ren仁, which denotes a vicarious experience that everyone can invoke and exercise on one's own, often between two individuals, or unidirectional empathy in essence,Yi represents a sense of duty for an individual to act in accordance with societal expectations; it deals with the relationship between an individual and his community. It is a quality that must be recognized and endorsed by other members of a society. It is often used to characterize events of significant social impacts, such as “義舉 (an act of Yi )” and “起義 (revolution against a tyrannical ruler, literally ‘activation of Yi’)”. As such, Yi is commonly translated as “righteousness,” with a connotation of meeting and defending the standards and expectations of a society.
While this translation is academically correct, it suffers three deficiencies: 1) “righteous” is a word that could occasionally imply hypocrisy; 2) it doesn’t distinguish acts of different social significance, while Yi is usually reserved for those deeds of higher purpose; 3) it is pedantry, not commensurate with the degree of popularity that the word Yi is used by people from all walks of life in pan-Chinese communities. There is a word in English that corresponds to Yi perfectly in terms of both popularity and semantic precision (plasticity as well): “honor.” Honor, when used to characterize an act or a person, is traditionally defined as a quality of “nobleness of mind, scorn of meanness, magnanimity” that earns “reputation” and “fame” in a society. It is a value highly venerated in the spheres such as the military. In its current use, honor is defined among its many meanings by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “a keen sense of ethical conduct: INTEGRITY.” "Integrity" has also been seen as a translation for Yi. This author submits that “honor” is adopted as the translation for Yi in lieu of "righteousness." |
“義”是儒家五個核心美德之一，其它美德为“仁”、“禮”、“智”、 “信”。“义”與“仁”不同：仁是一種每個人都可以自己喚起和實行的替入式體驗，往往發生在兩個人之間，本質上系單方向的替入感受（empathy）。而“義”代表的是個人按照社會預期規範其行為的責任感，涉及的是個人和其社區的關係。義是一種必須被社會其他成員認可讚同的品質，經常用於描述有重大社會影響的事件，如“義舉”和“起義”。 鑒於此，“義”通常翻譯成“righteousness”，含有符合維護社會標準及預期的涵義。
雖然這個翻譯在學術上準確，但它卻患有三個不足：1）“righteous”一詞，偶爾會暗示“虛偽”；2對不同社會影響力的行為不加區別，而“義”通常只指那些目標崇高的行為）; 3)迂腐，與“義”這個字在泛中華社區被社會各階層廣泛使用的程度不相稱。 英語中有一個詞，在流行程度及語義的準確性及弹性上和“義”完全對應，即“honor”。 “Honor”當用於評價一個行為或個人時，傳統上定義為“心靈高貴、蔑視卑鄙、宽宏大量”、從而在社會上贏得“聲譽”和“名望”的品質。3在一些行業如軍隊，這是一種非常受到崇敬的價值觀。目前，在其多個含義里，《韦氏词典》對“honor”的定義之一是“一種強烈的道德行為的意識，暨‘integrity’”。 “Integrity”一詞亦被看到作為“義”的翻譯。 本文作者提議，使用“honor”作為“義”的翻譯，替代 “righteousness”。 |
