“本质论”、“约定论”与语源研究

我国古代的思想家和古希腊的哲学家都曾经对名称和事物的关系问题进行过深入地探讨。“本质论”者认为事物的命名取决于事物的主要特点,名称和事物之间具有内在的相符的联系;“约定论”者则认为事物的命名取决于人为规约,事物的名称和事物之间没有天然的内在联系。虽然他们对名称与事物关系的探讨是从政治、哲学角度提出的,但却孕育了朴素的语源学思想,对中国和古希腊科学语源学的诞生产生了重要影响。

On Essential Viewpoint,Prescriptive Viewpoint and Etymology

Ancient Chinese thinkers and Greek philosophers have discussed the relationship between names and entities.Philosophers with an essential viewpoint thought that the naming of an entity depended on its essence and that there was an internal correlation between them,while those with a prescriptive viewpoint thought that the designation of things depended on human arbitrary prescription and that there was no innate internal relationship between them.Though these opinions were put forward from the perspectives ...