说说“中庸”的表达

　　

《中庸》的英译本名称是The Doctrine Of The Golden Mean：

    The Master [Confucius] said, the virtue embodied in the doctrine of the Mean is of the highest order. But it has long been rare among people.

    子曰：中庸其至矣乎！民鲜能久矣！

    不过，为什么要用Golden Mean来翻译“中庸”呢？其实这个概念在西方哲学中也有出现：

    In philosophy, especially that of Aristotle, the golden mean is the desirable middle between two extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency. For example courage, a virtue, if taken to excess would manifest as recklessness and if deficient as cowardice.

    亚里士多德的哲学观中就有“中庸”这个说法，指的是两个极端之间的平衡状态。例如勇气，过头就是鲁莽，不足就成懦弱，居中则正好。

    所以，这就是Golden Mean的由来。至于意大利馆展出的拉丁文译本，在拉丁语中，“golden mean”的说法是aurea mediocritas，从英语可以反过来推测拉丁文的意思，因为英语中的aura意为“光环”，而mediocre意为“中等的、平庸的、普通的”。

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