重新认识亚里士多德的悲剧理论——从《诗学》中“■”一词的汉译说起

Rediscover the Significance and Value of Aristotle’s Tragic Theory: From “Mercy” to “Remorse”

悲剧的意义在于通过引发"■"(pity)和"■"(fear)使人的情感得到"■"(Katharsis;陶冶、疏泄、净化)。如果不能准确地理解前两种情感,那么,争论"■"一词的内涵毫无意义。国内《诗学》主流译本把希腊词"■"译为"怜悯"误解了亚里士多德所用"■"一词的原意。它不仅严重损害了经典学术著作翻译的严谨性和科学性,而且遮蔽了亚里士多德《诗学》悲剧理论的深刻内涵。为了克服"■"主流译法的表面性和肤浅性,应该以"懊悔"取代"怜悯",如此方能彰显亚里士多德悲剧理论的独特意义和当代价值。

The significance of tragic drama is to edify pity and terror by arousing these emotions.There is no point arguing about the content of"■"if we cannot accurately understand these two emotions.First,translating"■"into"mercy"was widely accepted in Chinese academia.However,it misunderstood the essential meaning of"■"that Aristotle originally intended to express.This translation seriously damaged the rigor and scientificity required by translation of classical academic work.What’s more,it obscured the profound connotation of the tragedy theory that Poetics of Aristotle showed.In order to overcome the superficialness of the mainstream translation,we should replace"mercy"with"remorse".On this basis,we can rediscover the unique meaning and contemporary value of Aristotle’s tragic theory.