关键词: 道, 逻各斯, 多义, 中介, 相禅, 所禅

Abstract: In his study of the history of the term Logos in ancient Greek, Jewish, and Christian thinkers, Daniel H. Williams provided not only a detailed analysis of the polysemic notion of logos as speech, discourse, reason, or divine will, but also posed stimulating questions for the Chinese reader about how the Chinese understanding of Dao compares with terms like 法则 (natural law or nomos) and 理 (principle). This essay will follow up this question by tracing the polysemic word Dao in Chinese and the translation in various concepts like Logos, Verbum, Way, and Word, in order to demonstrate the different metaphysical framework in China and the West, namely, the logic of “mutual-substitute” or “the substitute”.

Key words: Dao, Logos, polysemic-notion, mediator, mutual-substitute, the substitute