Translation and Philosophy

ISSN 1089-294X

Translation and Philosophy

March 25 - 26, 2010, University College Dublin

CONFIRMED SPEAKERS:

MICHAEL CRONIN (Dublin City University)
The Spaces of Translation

THEO HARDEN (University College Dublin)
The Awful German Language or: Is ‘Die geistige Entwicklung’ ‘The mental development?’

EMILIE MORIN (University of York)
Samuel Beckett, Fritz Mauthner and the Impossibility of Memorialisation

Papers are invited on the theme ‘Translation and Philosophy’ for a two day symposium in March at University College Dublin.

The aim of the symposium is to explore the relationship between these two disciplines and papers are welcome from across a range of disciplines including, but not limited to: Translation Studies, Philosophy (both Continental and Analytic), German, French, and English Literature, Linguistics and Intercultural Studies. Papers are particularly welcome from graduate students working in relevant areas. Papers may focus on some of the below questions, or on any aspect of the relationship between these two traditions:

What is the nature of the relationship between translation and philosophy? In their mutual search for meaning and greater understanding in what way can they be said to be similar? What are their differences? With philosophy, perhaps more than any other genre, translation is pushed to the limits in an effort to carry across terms that are not existent in the target language – words like différance, Geist, Dasein, to name but a few, are common currency in the English speaking philosophical world, how does this impact on English as a language in general? Could philosophy be said to be a type of translation? Is translation itself philosophical? Given that many of the great philosophical works are read in translation, to what extent is philosophy dependent on translation? To what extent has translation modified and re-invented the work of philosophers? From Descartes to Ricoeur philosophy has often strived to provide a ‘theory of translation’, what impact, if any, do these theories have on translation in practice? Is there a ‘perfect’ translation?

lisa.foran@ucdconnect.ie