| Sumario: | This text examines the comparative intellectual history of Enlightenment concepts in eighteenth-century European thought and post-Sòng Confucian traditions, focusing on themes of Enlightenment, fraternity, and equality. It argues that both traditions contain tensions between "Enlightening" and "Anti-Enlightening" impulses, with the latter often manifesting as elite claims to guide or critique the majority, sometimes framed through relativist or multicultural language. The study highlights how key terms like Aufklärung (translated as qǐméng 啓蒙) and fraternity (bó'ài 博爱) were adapted in East Asia, noting differences between European horizontal sociability and Confucian vertical ethics of responsibility. By tracing these translations and conceptual shifts, the work explores how ideas of equality and social integration have been imagined and institutionalized across European and East Asian contexts.
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