孔子作为启蒙的催化剂

Confucius : a Cata lyzer of Enlightenment

十七世纪初叶,儒家思想经耶稣会士西传并在西方知识分子中引起了震动。莱布尼茨,尤其是沃尔夫把儒家的《四书》看作为绝无仅有的实践哲学,不仅从中找到了哲学思想上的认同,而且致力于儒家思想的西化和传播。基于儒家经典基础上的儒家道德思想和政治学说,给西方视基督耶稣为唯一的世界观以巨大冲击,并作为一种催化剂,给予西方的启蒙运动以补充。由于种种原因,有关儒家学说对欧洲思想文化发展的影响和作用问题,依然是一个薄弱环节。

At the beginning of the 17^th century, the Confucian thought was spread by members of Society of Jesus to the West and shocked the western intellectuals. Leibniz and especially Wolf took Confucian the Four Books as the unique practical philosophy, not only finding philosophical identity in Confucianism but also committing themselves to both the adaption and the spread of the Confucian thought to the West. Confucian moral thought and political doctrine brought great impacts on the Western outlook of world in which Jesus Christ is exclusive, simultaneously complementing the Western Enlightenment Movement as a catalyzer. For various reasons, European academia is weak in such issues as the influence of the Confucian thought on European ideological and cultural development.