著者

遠藤 智夫

出版者

日本英学史学会

雑誌

英学史研究 (ISSN:03869490)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.1994, no.26, pp.71-83, 1993

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It is well known that the English word "philosophy" was translated into Japanese as<I>tetsugaku</I>by Amane Nishi.<BR>The writer makes clear the circumstances under which Nishi coined the term<I>tetsugaku</I>.<BR>However, before Nishi coined it, the word<I>rigaku</I>was the term most com-monly used to mean "philosophy." <BR>In 1791-92, in a translation of a Dutch book on astronomy, YoshinagaMotoki translated "philosophy" into various terms, such as 儒教・智学・窮理学・性理学・性理術. This was the first recorded translation of "philosophy" into these terms. And after twenty years, in a few Dutch-Japanese or English-Japanese dictionaries compiled around 1810, we can find the word<I>rigaku</I> (理学).A case can be made that Yoshinaga Motoki and Dutch interpreters played an important role in the translation of the word "philosophy" into Japanese. But why did<I>tetsugahu</I>come to replace<I>rigaku</I>as the commonly accepted translation when<I>rigaku</I>had been used for so many years.<BR>After presenting a report at the regular monthly meeting in April, 1993, the writer tried to throw new light on this question, as well as on the issues of why opinions are divided on the books in which the term<I>tetsugaku</I>appeared, and why "philosophy" was not translated into its exact Japanese equivalent<I>aichigaku</I> (愛智学).