本书从中西哲学比较的角度出发，收录了94个儒学关键术语，每一词条先给出英文对应词，再以《说文》等为依据训诂，最后结合儒学经典用英文进行阐释。本书的宗旨在于纠正西方对中国文化的误读。作者认为：中西思想传统各有自己一套独特的哲学语汇，这套哲学语汇在各自文化语义环境中自圆其说而不可直接相互翻译，由于双方对彼此原本语义结构性差别的忽略，在以往中西哲学直接相互翻译过程中，存在着大量的文化不对称误读、误判；例如将儒学“天”误读为西方基督教的“Heaven”(“天堂”)一词、将“礼”作为基督教的“ritual”（“宗教礼仪”）等。因此，仅靠词对词的翻译，难以达到有效的沟通。要使西方人恰当地理解中国儒学，就必须顾及中西思想传统各自文化语义环境的不同结构，采取比照彼此语义文化环境的阐释方法，“使翻译与阐释相结合，以阐释为主，翻译为辅”。用这一方法，将不同思想传统的重要哲学语汇、概念框架，放到各自文化语义环境中去进行二者差别的比照阐释，用各自非哲学性的自然语言阐释彼此的一套特有哲学语汇；以此较为恰当地表达中国儒学和中国思想文化，进而完成从中国向西方传达思想的工作。

This Conceptual Lexicon for Classical Confucian Philosophy is a companion volume to my Sourcebook in Classical Confucian Philosophy. I and my collaborators over the years have argued consistently for a processual understanding of Chinese natural cosmology made explicit in the Book of Changes. We believe that such a way of thinking in its own interpretive context informs the key philosophical vocabulary of Confucian philosophy. Over the past several centuries of cultural encounter， the formula established by the early missionaries for the translation of classical Chinese texts into Western languages has resulted in a Christian conversion of Confucian texts that is still very much with us today. And more recently， the invention of a new Chinese language to synchronize East Asian cultures with Western modernity has become another obstacle in our reading of the Confucian canons. In this Conceptual Lexicon， we have employed a comparative hermeneutical method in our best attempt to explain the Confucian terms of art， and to take the Confucian tradition on its own terms.