The translation issue of “bu-ke-de-er-wen” as it appears in the Preface of The Explorations in Words and Meaning on Menciu

It is a well-known fact that Dai Zhen(戴震)’s Mengziziyishuzheng(The Explorations in Words and Meaning on Mencius, 孟子字义疏证) stands as one of the representative works of intellectual thought in the mid-Qing period. Although the work begins with an evidential-philological orientation—characteristic of the scholarly atmosphere of mid-Qing philology—it ultimately attains speculative achievements, and for this reason has been esteemed as a rare example of successful integration between evidential research and philosophical reflection. Consequently, a number of translations have already appeared. In Korea, three different translations have been published; in Japan, there is one Japanese translation; in the United States, one English translation; and in China, one vernacular Chinese rendering.<br/> Upon reviewing these translations, however, I have identified certain translational problems. In particular, within the Preface to the Mengziziyishuzheng, Dai Zhen cites the passage from the Analects(论语) attributed to Zigong(子贡), where the phrase “bu-ke-de-er-wen” (不可得而闻) appears. If one follows the conventional rendering of this phrase, it fails to account for the causal relation required by the broader context. Conversely, if one adopts an unprecedented and idiosyncratic translation in order to capture the relational nuance, the overall textual flow becomes awkward, and it is difficult to explain why Dai Zhen himself provides no further elaboration.<br/> Accordingly, with respect to the expression “bu-ke-de-er-wen” (不可得而闻), I have attempted a more reasoned translation by consulting the Analects commentary in the Thirteen Classics with Annotations and Subcommentaries(十三经注疏), Zhu Xi’s Collected Annotations on the Analects(论语集注), as well as the parallel usage of “……ke-de-wen-yu” (……可得闻欤) in Dai Zhen’s Mengziziyishuzheng. On the basis of these examinations, I then synthesized the findings and, taking as a clue Dai Zhen’s reference to the Zhouyi (周易) in the Preface to the Evidential Commentary, proposed a new translation. The rendering presented in this study cannot yet be considered final, but it offers a provisional solution. Through continued review and further analysis, I aim to arrive at a more stable and ultimately definitive translation.