Abstract
During the 18th and 19th centuries, German philosophy experienced a surge of interest in linguistic-philosophical inquiry, centering on the relationship between language and thought. Philosophers sought inspiration from non-European languages in the hope of constructing a linguistic foundation for expressing universal truths. Hegel was one of the leading figures in this movement. His view of Chinese characters encompasses three levels: the nature and positioning of Chinese characters, their symbolic characteristics, and cultural consequences. Hegel regarded Chinese characters as typical examples of ideographic writing which “signifies representations through spatial imagery”, contrasting it with alphabetic systems that rely on phonetic symbols tied to sound, as Chinese characters function through visual forms. Hegel argues that, sound as a linguistic medium, is more immediate and spiritual in language symbols, thus making alphabetic scripts more definite and spiritually pure. The relationship between Chinese characters, pronunciation, and spoken language is loose and uncertain, with a large number of symbols and complex graphic structures. These features of Chinese characters have led to the slow progress and stagnation of Chinese cultural development. In summary, he evaluated Chinese characters from within a theoretical framework centered on the development and manifestation of “spirit”; but his understanding of Chinese characters and Chinese culture was rather rigid and stereotypical. A close examination of his works and lecture notes shows that his knowledge of Chinese characters and Chinese culture came from the writings of European missionaries and sinologists at the time. His negative judgments about Chinese characters were the result of both the level of knowledge about Chinese characters in the European intellectual community at the time and his personal philosophical convictions. From the modern period to the present, European philosophers’ engagement with Chinese characters has always been treated as an external resource and supplement, used to “defend” or “subvert” existing Western philosophical traditions centered on the logoscentric and phonocentric philosophical traditions.
Key words
Hegel /
Chinese character /
sound /
pictographic writing
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Chen Junzao.
Hegel’s View of Chinese Characters: Sources of Knowledge and Later Controversies[J]. Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning. 2025, 10(4): 75-83 https://doi.org/10.19689/j.cnki.cn10-1361/h.20250408
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