Roger T. Ames' Translation From Process Philosophy

This thesis aims to make a case study of Roger T. Ames'philosophical orientation of explanation and translation via analyses of his specific rendering of Lunyu.Ames is a renowned scholar as a western philosopher and sinologist whose unique identity is helpful in his studies on Chinese classics. In his rendering of Lunyu, he adopts a philosophical perspective to reveal the philosophical value and to reproduce the independent status of Chinese philosophy for a better communication between eastern and western cultures.Ames'academic achievements can be grouped into two categories: one is about philosophical works, notably, the"trilogy of comparative philosophy": Thinking through Confucius, Anticipating China, Thinking from the Han; the other is about translation works: for example, The Analects of Confucius, Daodejing and Focusing the Familiar. His studies on Chinese traditional philosophy provide him with great insight for his translation. His contribution, however, is not conducted single-handedly, but is the crystallization of cooperation with other famous philosophers and sinologists like D.C. Lau, David Hall, Henry Rosemont, Jr., the last of whom is the co-translator of The Analects of Confucius.To bridge Chinese and Western philosophy, Ames uses those concepts and categories from western Process Philosophy, a new discipline in the west and probably a new trend in world philosophy, to explain the essence of the Confucian thought for the fact that there has been such kind of process-thinking in China since as early as The Book of Changes. For this reason, this thesis probes into Ames'manipulation of Lunyu from Whitehead's Process Philosophy, which justifies Ames'interpretation and translation. Specifically, four aspects will be covered respectively in four chapters for detailed analyses, namely, Ames's translating purposes, principles, strategies and manipulation of Chinese key philosophical terms. Lastly, Ames'practice inspires a lot: before translation, the source text should be clearly defined and translators should focus on the uniqueness of Chinese culture. For a better understanding, translators can provide lengthy introduction. Re-translation of Chinese classics in this time is significant only when translators discover something new and provide something innovative. It was only when the translator discovers something new and unique from Chinese classics that re-translation can be available.