Shu 殊 (differentia) in the Wugong 五公: Its Philosophical Meanings and Philological Background

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국동서철학회
· 수록지 정보 : 동서철학연구 / 105호 / 91 ~ 134페이지
· 저자명 : 허민준

초록

Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis e Societate Jesu in Universam Dialecticam Aristotelis, published by Jesuit philosophers at the University of Coimbra (Portugal) in 1606, is an encyclopedic work containing the Latin translation of Aristotle's work, with greek medieval and Renaissance commentaries. Conceived as a textbook for use in universities, this book contains, among other treatises, Aristotle’s Categories and Porphyry’s Isagoge, which is an introduction to logic. These two treatises, the first Western logic books to be translated into Chinese, were published by the Jesuit priest Furtado (1587–1653) and Li Zhizao, (1571–1630), in 1636 under the title Mingli tan. Porphyry’s Isagoge, placed in the first part of this book, is presented as Wugong 五公 or ‘Five common items’. These items which correspond to the genus (宗), the species (類), the difference (殊), the property (獨), and the accident (依), are the most basic logical notions. Among them, the concept of ‘difference’ or shu 殊 is fundamental in that it accounts for all kinds of differences that affect individuals, physical states, movements, and accidental or essential qualities. Because it allows a first categorization of the physical beings and of the human language that signifies it, the clear understanding of the differences is therefore at the very foundation of the logical reasoning of Western thought. The concept of difference, as it appears in the Chinese translation included no less than 16 different philosophical meanings. The analysis of this concept shows that Furtado and Li Zhizao, not only translated the Coimbra commentary but also consulted the secondary sources quoted in it. Therefore this paper aims to clarify all the technical terms related to this concept of shu by comparatively examining the Latin text with the Chinese translation and by gathering the philological data contained in it, which are necessary to reconstruct their bibliographical background.

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