Happenings Archive

Confucius and Plato: The Perfect Monarch in the ‘Analects’ and the ‘Republic’

Sotiris Chalikias:In my speech I correlate the two approaches to the question of the Perfect Monarch contained in the two fundamental texts of the Chinese and Greek worlds: the Analects of Confucius and the Republic of Plato. A correlation that does not, of course, supports any similarity between the two approaches, given that the one and the other is written in -and defines it – adistinct cultural world. Neither is it intended, through the reference to the corresponding formulations, to prove that one of these two separate worlds has advanced more than the other in the understanding the fundamental issues of Man and Nature. If the ideal state of Plato was essentially a matter of the future, that is the raising of the philosopher–King (spectator of the true world of ideas) to the power, the ideal State of Confucius was declared a reality of the past, with fundamental elements the so called “Ancient Kings’ Way”: the Lord’s ritual manner of ruling as well the domination of the people by him,exclusively through his own virtue.

在我的演讲中，我将对中国和希腊两个语境下所涉及的完美君主问题从两个维度进行回答：“论语”和“柏拉图共和国”。

当然，这种相关性并不能说明这两种维度认识这个问题的相似性，因为这两种维度的本质其实都是在定义这一独特的文化世界。但需要注意的是，相关的探讨无意证明这两个不同的思想家在解决人与自然基本问题时的思想孰优孰劣。

如果柏拉图的理想国基本上是关乎未来的问题，那就是哲学家为王（哲学王），而孔子的思想则被认为是过去的现实，即“古代国王之道”（贤人执政），贤人执政时以德服人。

Sotiris Chalikias

The main purpose ofhis translation work, since its beginning, has been the attempt to publish in Greek, some of the fundamental texts of the Chinese culture, that is ofthis  distinct and interesting point ofview on  the human being  and on the World in general, which constitutes the core of the Chinese thought,  as he was able to understand, through the study of the most important texts of the Chinese antiquity.

This particular-and so demanding-translation project has been realized, up today, in the publication in  the Greeklanguage (with the relative  Introductionand the necessary Interpretative Comments) of the following fundamental Chinesebooks:Lun Yu (論語)  Meng Zi (孟子)  Da Xue  (大學) Zhong Yong  (中庸)  Lie Zi (列子)  Na Han (呐喊) Ni shiyi tiao he  (你是一条河) Fan nao ren sheng  (烦恼人生)

Sotiris Halikias于1947年出生于莱夫卡达，并在那里完成了高中学业。他曾在雅典学习建筑，在巴黎学习城市规划。在旅居几个国家后，他定居于布鲁塞尔。他是研究古代汉语的少数希腊人之一，从1989年开始进入布鲁塞尔的汉语学校学习语言，并最终完成相关课程。他的翻译工作的主要目的，从一开始就是希望通过研究构成中国核心思想的古代经典著述，并翻译成为希腊文，从而呈现出对世界和人类都非常与众不同且极为有趣的观点。这一要求极高的翻译项目截止目前都已完成，并以希腊语出版，书中附上了相关介绍及必要的解释性评论。这一卓著的翻译项目涉及以下作品：LunYu (論語), Meng Zi (孟子), Da Xue  (大學), Zhong Yong (中庸),Lie Zi (列子). 还包括(呐喊) Ni shiyi tiao he  (你是一条河) Fan nao ren sheng  (烦恼人生) 等中国小说。

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