18世紀法國思想巨擘伏爾泰的"理性"是一種能識別"假""惡"和"真""善"的能力;伏爾泰將其作為一種社會政治倫理,呼吁人們崇尚理性與文明,反對神權和野蠻,因此成為法國大革命的一份"酵母"。"理性"是伏爾泰提倡的社會政治倫理之重要理論支撐,為此他借用中國元雜劇《趙氏孤兒》的故事創作《中國孤兒》表達的正是這種理性:文明必然戰勝野蠻,"真""善"必然戰勝"假""惡"。《趙氏孤兒》中的"綱紀"倫理是伏爾泰借以宣揚理性政治倫理的"本文";此本文的選擇是伏爾泰對中國政治論理的推崇所致。

As a great thinker of France in the 18 th century,Voltaire’s "reason" is an ability to distinguish "good" from "bad","truth" from "falsehood".Voltaire regarded it as a kind of social political ethics,calling people to advocate reason and civilization as well as to oppose theocracy and barbarism.Therefore,it became the "yeast" of the French Revolution."Reason" is the important basis of his social political ethics,and he created The Orphan of China based on the Chinese Zaju The Orphan of Zhao in the Yuan Dynasty to express the "reason" that civilization is bound to defeat barbarism as "truth" and "good" are bound to defeat "falsehood" and "bad".Voltaire used "discipline" in The Orphan of Zhao as the "text" to advocate his rational political ethics.The text is chosen due to Voltaire’s favor for Chinese political ethics.