冯友兰先生所著《中国哲学简史》中引用Northrop的一段评价儒学的话语：

  Northrop also says that there are three possible types of concepts by intuition: "The concept of the differentiated aesthetic continuum. The concept of the indefinite or undifferentiated aesthetic continuum. The concept of the differentiation." (Ibid., p. 187.)

According lo him, "Confucianism may be defined as the state of mind in which the concept of the indeterminate intuited manifold moves into the background of thought and the concrete differentiations in their relativistic, humanistic, transitory comings and goings form the content of philosophy. (Ibid., p. 2.05.) But in Taoism, it is the concept of the indefinite or undifferenliated aesthetic continuum that forms the content of philosophy. (Ibid.)

—— from Filmer S. C. Northrop, "The Complementary Emphases of Eastern Intuition Philosophy and Western Scientific Philosophy'

    红色标注的语句有点费解。

  看了国内两位译者的翻译，还是有些费解：

涂又光译文：

诺思罗普还说，用直觉得到的概念又有三种可能的类型："已区分的审美连续体的概念、不定的或未区分的审美连续体的概念、区分的概念"（同上，187页）。照他说，"儒家学说可以定义为一种心灵状态，在其中，不定的直觉到的多方面的概念移入思想背景了。而具体区分其相对的、人道的、短暂的'来来往往'则构成了哲学内容"（同上，205页）。但是在道家学说中："则是不定的或未区分的审美连续体的概念构成了哲学内容"（同上）。 

赵复三译文：

诺斯洛普教授还进一步说到，来自直觉的概念又可以分为三种：“在连续审视中已予区分的概念；连续审视而还未予区分或称不确定的概念；以及区分的概念。”(同上书，第187页)按照他的意见，“儒家的思想可以界定为一种精神状态，其中不明确的概念以直觉、多重的运动构成思想的背景；而具体的区分的概念则以相对的、人文主义的、过渡性的往复形成哲学的内容。”(同上书，第205页)至于道家思想，则是以连续审视而不确定或未区分的概念构成哲学的内容。(同上页)。 

请教native English speaker,答复如下：

PaulQSenior Member

It is clear that the author composed this whilst sitting in the kitchen, in the dark, pulling words at random out of a thesaurus whilst a rabid monkey claws him below the waist.

The Americans have a useful response: “You used a lot of $10 words there, boy…”

That aside, I understand it as:

"Confucianism may be defined as the state of mind in which the concept of the indeterminate intuited manifold moves into the background of thought and the concrete differentiations in the relativistic, humanistic, transitory comings and goings of the manifold and of the background thought form the content of Confucian philosophy."

transitory comings and goings' = (in this context) thoughts that just pass through your mind and then disappear and are forgotten.  

of the manifold and of the background thought -> of the unorganized sum of the details provided to the mind* and of the background thought

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AndygcSenior Member

"Confucianism may be defined as the state of mind in which the concept of assorted word salad moves into the background of thought."
And
"The concrete differentiations in their another word salad comings and goings form the content of philosophy."

The clue that the sentence is supposed to contrast Confucianism with philosophy is in the title "The Complementary Emphases of Eastern Intuition Philosophy and Western Scientific Philosophy". However it has certainly confused two people here with capable brains, and even though I think it is a sentence intended to contrast the intuitive philosophy of Confucianism with the concrete philosophy of the West, I think that it is not even barely intelligible as a meaningful English sentence.

————————

Kirusha

"the indeterminate intuited manifold "：
The messy multitude of sensations intuitively conceived by the mind.

You may well be advised to stop getting hung up on this sentence and move on as further context might throw more light on this distinction.  

   看来原作者Northrop用词难以把握，简直是"语词中的生拌沙拉"（word salad）。居然想搞清楚这些用语的意思，连老外都要揶揄我“那是相当地勇敢了”：

Andygc

"word salad" is a collection of words of uncertain meaning. I find this text unintelligible. Even with the help of a dictionary for the words I am not familiar with (for example, "manifold" having a specific meaning as a noun in Kantian philosophy) I find the structure of the sentence results in an uncertain and confused meaning. As you can see, my initial view was that it was presenting a contrast whereas others thought it was a complex definition of Confucianism. I'm still unsure. You are pretty brave to try to understand this writer if this style continues throughout the book.

 希望能得到更为通俗易懂的解说！