1. Special Theme: Modes of Reasoning—East and West (Part II) 2. Author Affiliations: Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong, SAR, China
摘要
One might think that the European verb “to be” can find no counterpart in archaic Chinese. This paper starts with two sidetracks on Heidegger and Benveniste, which prepare us a broader horizon in dealing with the notion of “being.” It is indeed conceivable in the four Chinese characters shi 是, zai 在, cun 存 and you 有. These notions are discussed with the help of corresponding archaic Chinese script tokens. This so‐called fourfold root explains why it is precisely these characters that have become the most widely used Chinese translations for the notion of “being.”
目次
I. Introduction 212 II. Heidegger on "Grammar and Etymology of the Word 'Being'" 213 III. Benveniste's Account of "To Be" and Its Relation to "To Have" 215 IV. The Fourfold Root of "Being" in Chinese 218 V. Conclusion 225
