ABSTRACT
This study analyzes the texts of translators in order to investigate how translators’ thought affected reception of the theory of social evolution in East Asia. The theory of social evolution, or social Darwinism, is a name given to various phenomena emerging in the second half of the nineteenth century in an attempt to apply the biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to human society (Raymond 2000). East Asia’s reception of the theory of social evolution took place in the late 19th century, when the region faced unfair treaties, political pressure, and economic invasion by the West. The theory of social evolution was the most popular Western theory that intellectuals in East Asia actively sought to understand in order to find a new perspective that would be effective in understanding their particular nation’s position in the world and in world history. Translated versions of this theory were appropriated through the translator’s own preexisting thinking and the surrounding social conditions, and the words obtained new meanings and evolved within the process of political and social changes in East Asia.
