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2025/26 School of Chinese Research Student Seminar

明末耶穌會士利瑪竇對「孝」的闡述——以《天主實義》為中心

The Jesuit Missionary Matteo Ricci’s Interpretation of "Filial Piety" in Late Ming China

Abstract:

「孝」作為中國傳統文化的核心價值觀，於明末迎來了與西方天主教思想的碰撞與重新詮釋。在這一跨文化交流進程中，利瑪竇的《天主實義》扮演了至關重要的角色。本場報告將聚焦於該文本中對「孝」的具體闡述，為此結合利瑪竇在華的傳教經歷，對《天主實義》中出現共33次的「孝」字進行深度的文本與語境分析，並特別著眼於該書第八篇中關於西方風俗、傳教士獨身制等議題的論述。本場報告擬重點探討三個核心問題：其一，利瑪竇如何運用西方邏輯推理與辯證方法來解讀儒家關鍵命題「孝」；其二，在利瑪竇的詮釋框架下，「孝」與「忠」、「禮」等其他傳統德目之間構建了何種新關係；其三，此種對「孝」的跨文化解讀，折射出利瑪竇怎樣的儒學詮釋立場及其背後的傳教策略。透過上述分析，旨在揭示西方傳教士如何藉由重構中國傳統孝道，以實現中西思想的深層對話與融合。

As a core concept of traditional Chinese culture, "filial piety" (Xiao 孝) encountered ideological collision and reinterpretation with the introduction of Catholicism in the late Ming Dynasty. Matteo Ricci's "The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven" played a pivotal role in this cross-cultural dialogue. This presentation focuses specifically on the textual elaboration of "filial piety" within this seminal work. Contextualizing Ricci's missionary experiences in China, this study conducts an in-depth textual and contextual analysis of the 33 occurrences of the character "Xiao" in "The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven", with a particular emphasis on Chapter 8, which discusses Western customs and clerical celibacy. The presentation aims to address three core questions: First, how Ricci utilized Western logical reasoning and dialectical methods to interpret the crucial Confucian proposition of "filial piety"; Second, what new relationships were constructed between "filial piety" and other traditional virtues, such as "loyalty" (Zhong 忠) and "propriety" (Li 禮), within Ricci's interpretive framework; Third, what this cross-cultural interpretation reveals about Ricci's interpretive stance on Confucianism and his underlying missionary strategies. Through this analysis, the presentation seeks to uncover how Western missionaries reconstructed traditional Chinese filial piety to facilitate the dialogue and integration of Chinese and Western thought.