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

1711年，耶稣会神父弗朗索瓦·诺埃尔（François Noël，1651 - 1729）在布拉格出版了第一部完整的四书译本《经典帝国》，其中还包括儒家经典《孝经》和《孝经》。同年，他还编辑了一部关于中国哲学的长篇著作《Philosophia Sinica tribus tractatibus》，这是世纪早期欧洲人就这一主题所写的最全面、最详尽的著作。即使从现代汉学的角度来看，诺埃尔的成就也确实代表了他对儒家传统的惊人理解。1712年，《古典帝国学》出版后不久，这本书就得到了德国早期启蒙运动中最杰出、最有影响力的哲学家克里斯蒂安·沃尔夫（Christian Wolff，1679 - 1754）的评论。沃尔夫似乎在接下来的几年里深入研究了这部作品：在1721年在哈雷举行的《中国实践哲学演讲》中，他引用了《经典》作为他对中国哲学的见解的来源，并表达了他对诺埃尔作为儒家传统解释者的钦佩。这篇演讲被称为启蒙运动的起点（Hinske），因为它是困扰欧洲学术中心哲学和神学界的一个大丑闻的开始。最后，这篇演讲导致沃尔夫于1723年以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，深入研究儒家经典中的性观念是非常重要的一步。它将为理解早期启蒙运动的跨文化特征提供一个基本前提。

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.