"Sinensis Imperii Libri Classici Sex": An Early Masterwork of Sinology as a source of the German Enlightenment?

1711年，耶稣会教父弗朗索瓦·诺埃·L(François NoëL，1651年-1729年)在布拉格出版了他的《中华帝国图书馆经典》中的第一部四书全译本，这部著作还包括儒家经典著作《晓学》和《孝经》。同年，他还编辑了一本关于中国哲学的长篇描述(《中华哲学》)，这是18世纪初欧洲人在这一主题上所写的最全面和最详尽的著作。即使从现代汉学的角度来看，诺尔斯的成就也代表着对儒家传统惊人的理解水平。1712年，在《中华帝国图书馆经典性别》出版后不久，德国早期启蒙运动最著名和最有影响力的哲学家克里斯蒂安·沃尔夫(Christian Wolff，1679-1754)对这本书进行了评论。沃尔夫似乎在接下来的几年里对这部著作进行了深入的研究：1721年在哈勒举行的关于中国人实践哲学的演讲中，他引用了《天秤学》作为他对中国哲学的见解的来源，并对诺埃·L作为儒家传统的解释者表示钦佩。这篇演讲被称为启蒙运动的起点(辛斯克)，因为它是一个巨大丑闻的开始，这一丑闻困扰着欧洲学术中心的哲学和神学词汇。最终，1723年，沃尔夫受到死亡威胁，被驱逐出普鲁士。为了更详细地了解儒家思想对克里斯蒂安·沃尔夫的影响，对中华帝国图书馆古典性别进行深入研究是非常重要的一步。这将为理解早期启蒙运动的跨文化品格提供一个基本前提。

The Jesuit Father François Noël (1651 - 1729) published in 1711 in Prague the first complete translation of the Four Books in his Sinensis Imperii libri Classici, a work that included also the Confucian classics Xiaoxue and the Xiaojing. In the same year, he edited also a voluminous description of Chinese Philosophy (Philosophia Sinica tribus tractatibus), the most comprehensive and exhaustive work on this topic ever written by a European by the early 18th century. Even in the light of modern sinological scholarship Noëls achievements do represent an astonishing level of understanding of the Confucian tradition.In 1712, soon after the publication of the Sinensis Imperii libri Classici sex this book was reviewed by Christian Wolff (1679 - 1754), the most prominent and influential philosopher of the early enlightenment in Germany. Wolff seems to have studied this work in the following years intensively: In his Speech on the Practical Philosophy of the Chinese held in 1721 in Halle, he cites the Libri Classici as the source of his insights into Chinese Philosophy and expresses his admiration for Noël as interpreter of the Confucian tradition. This speech was called the Starting point of the Enlightenment (Hinske), because it was the beginning of a great scandal that troubled the philosophical and theological word in the academic centers of Europe. In the end this speech led to the banishement of Wolff from Prussia in 1723 by the threat of Death. In order to gain a more detailed understanding of the Confucian influences on Christian Wolff, a profound research into the Sinensis Imperii libri Classici sex is a very important step. It will supply a basic prerequisite for the understanding of the intercultural character of the Early Enlightenment.