书名称：《孔子或君王之学》（Confucius ou la science des princes）

translated by François Bernier (1687); introduction and notes by Sylvie Taussig, sinological note by Thierry Meynard

Paris: éditions du Félin (www.editionsdufelin.com), 2015.

396 pp.

ISBN : 978 2 86 645 829 4

25 euros

Dating back to 1687, this is first translation in French of texts attributed to Confucius.

It is the publication of manuscript entitled “Confucius ou la science des princes ; contenant les principes de la morale particulière du gouvernement politique des anciens empereurs et magistrats de Chine. Abrégée et mise en françois par M. Bernier Docteur en médecine” (Confucius or the Science of the Princes, Containing the Principles of the Particular Morality of the Political Government of the Ancient Emperors and the Magistrates of China. Abridged and translated into French by Mr. Bernier, Doctor of Medicine)> The manuscript can be found in the Bibliothèque de L'Arsenal (BnF, Paris), n. 2331; there is a second nearly identical copy at n. 2689.

The author, François Bernier (1620 –1688), a student of Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655) and renowned in his time for spending more than a decade with the Great Mogul in India, did not work from the Chinese text but from Confucius Sinarum Philosophus, the first Latin translation of Confucian texts, published by the Jesuits that same year under the aegis of Louis XIV. Bernier made a rather faithful translation of large sections of Confucius Sinarum Philosophus.

Bernier is one of the philosophers who, after François deLa Mothe LeVayer (1588-1672), endeavoured to carefully examine the traditional religious, political and moral ideas ofChina. He discovered in the moral philosophy of Confucius evidence of the "virtues of the pagans", acquired without revelation, and elements of a secularised social science, which therefore dispenses with religion and theology, as well as a system that does not resort to any political theology inChina. The text was not published at that time, possibly due to Bernier's death, but maybe also because of its philosophical content

Contents:

Sylvie Taussig, “Introduction occidentale des classiques confucéens au XVIIe siècle”, pp. 9-116.

Thierry Meynard, “Une évaluation de la traduction de Bernier du point de vue sinologique”, pp. 117-122

“Bibliographie”, pp. 123-135

“Confucius ou la science des princes” (en trois livres), pp. 139-387.