Title: Where “Thoughts” Meet the “Scope”: A Chinese Hermeneutic Account of James Legge’s Translation Guidelines for The Chinese Classics

Abstract: “To realize friendship” and “To make the thoughts meet the scope” have been valued as guidelines for understanding and interpreting Chinese Classics. Yet, when reevaluated in the context of cross-cultural communication, both objectives place writers and readers separated by time, languages, and cultures on equal footing by fostering mutual communication through dialogue. Coincidentally, such equalization overlaps with the nature of translation. Thus, in James Legge’s translation of the five-volume Chinese Classics, “To realize friendship” and “To make the thoughts meet the scope” channeled him into observing the life and world of those Chinese figures living in and beyond the text.Consequently, Legge developed his commitment to reestablish the hermeneutic traditions of Chinese classic narratives and his resolution to accomplish the translation based on ethical recognition.

Keywords: James Legge, “thoughts meet the scope”, “the realization of friendship”, The Chinese Classics

Author: Ling Xue, Lecturer, School of Foreign Languages, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, Hubei, China