Three Principles for Critiquing English Translations of TCM Classics: A Framework Based on Practical Philosophy

The linguistic turn in philosophy and the new currents of practical philosophy constitute the shared intellectual background of Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics and Habermas’s theory of communicative action. Through their prolonged theoretical exchanges, the two thinkers gradually developed convergent views, giving rise to a shared and complementary understanding of truth, meaning, and ethics grounded in language and dialogue. These philosophical insights provide a theoretical foundation for constructing a critical discourse on the English translation of traditional Chinese medical classics. This study argues that the consensus-oriented view of truth underlying practical philosophy supports critics in adopting a dialectical stance; its generative view of meaning requires critics to adopt a historical perspective; and its discursive view of ethics resonates with the orientational demands intrinsic to criticism itself. Accordingly, taking into account the distinctive requirements and pluralistic values involved in translating traditional Chinese medical (TCM) classics into English, this study proposes three principles to guide such criticism: dialectical engagement, historical consciousness, and orientational guidance.