Translation and Philosophy: Truth, Scepticism, Choices

The volume is grounded in the idea of the philosophy of translation as the philosophical discourse about translation written within the European and Anglo-American traditions in the last two centuries. Each chapter presents the central tenets of one author on translation and the concepts of language and society underlying those tenets within the wider body of the author’s work. The book examines the discipline’s origins with Friedrich Schleiermacher. Subsequent chapters explore the truth of art and hermeneutics as discussed by Walter Benjamin and Hans-Georg Gadamer, the problem of meaning and truth, as conceived by W.V.O. Quine and Donald Davidson, and the political and ethical dimensions of translation, as seen by Jacques Derrida and Barbara Cassin – with a brief consideration of translation theorists Antoine Berman and Henri Meschonnic. While translation theory focuses on the how of translation, the philosophy of translation explores the what of translation and, in turn, provides tools for future challenges.

This book will be of interest to scholars in translation studies and philosophy of language as well as to those working in the history of ideas, and the political theory of language.