老子之道在欧洲的传播

The Spreading of Laozi’s Tao in Europe

作为中国智慧的代表,老子的学说不仅在中国思想史上的地位极高,而且在中西交流中,也给欧洲大陆带去了不一样的价值。“道”是老子思想的代表性符号,其神秘性、革命性和实用性特征为老子的西传推波助澜。在此后的欧洲对老子之“道”研究中,分别出现了19世纪传教士基督教的比附性解读,20世纪汉学家们寻求《老子》本意的专业性解读和哲学家们的沟通中西哲学的阐释。并最终在经过了漫长的非职业化和相对职业化的解读后,在现当代汉学家和哲学家——尤其是存在主义哲学家那里,找到了比较趋近老子本意的契合之处,且于20世纪后期进入到更加多元化的解读时代。本文试图以宏观背景下整体特征的概述和具体个案解析相结合的方法,通过梳理“道”在欧洲的传播,来看老子思想在欧洲的接受、影响和传播。

As a representative of Chinese wisdom, Lazi’s theory is not only has a high status in the history of Chinese thoughts, but also has brought Europe different wealth in the communications between China and the Western countries. Tao is the representative symbol of Laozi’s theory. It has the characteristics of being mystical, revolutionary and practical. Those features have served for its dissemination in Europe. In the following studies of “Tao”, there appeared the analogical inter-pretation of Christian missionaries in the 19th century. In the 20th century, sinologists sought professional interpretation of the original ideas in Laozi and interpretations of philosophers who attempted to communicate the Western Philosophy and Chinese Philosophy. Finally, after a lengthy interpretation of amateurism and relative professionalism, from contemporary sinologists and philosophers—especially Existentialist philosophers, we have found correspondence which fits the intention of Laozi. In the late 20th century, the study has progressed into a more diversified field. In this paper, this paper tries to explain the acceptance, influence and spread of Laozi’s ideas in Europe by combing out the spread of “Tao” in Europe.