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Questions tagged [translation]

52 questions
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Recommend "best" (see description) English translation of Tao Te Ching

Would someone who is vary familiar with Lao Tzu's philosophy please refer me to a translation of Tao Te Ching that preserves the spirit and eternal messages of Tao Te Ching. I don't like the translations I've read that try to modernize the text, and…
mikeed_5
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What are some alternative readings of Aristotle's remark "O my friends, there is no friend"?

Jacques Derrida's 1988-89 seminar on "The Politics of Friendship" centers itself around a quotation attributed to Aristotle, found in Diogenes Laertius (V, 1, 21) and later quoted by Montaigne ("On Friendship", I, 28) "O my friends, there is no…
Michael Dorfman
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Enchiridion, 16: Does a stoic moan, or not?

The translation of Epictetus' Enchiridion, part 16 by Elizabeth Carter (http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html) seems to contradict that of Thomas Wentworth Higginson's (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45109/45109-h/45109-h.htm). E. Carter…
Bim Sherwood
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Which translation of Heidegger's "Being and Time" do you recommend?

I find choosing the correct translation to be quite important in general, each one has its various merits and shortcomings. Are there any important differentiating factors between the various translations of Being and Time? It will help me choose…
Lucas
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How, when and why Plato's "Ideas" were changed to "Forms" in English translations?

Until the mid 20th c. in most of philosophy related publications it was agreed that Plato and subsequent reasearch dealt with "Ideas" - a word adapted from his original Greek. Some 50 years later the usage has shifted to the use of a latin…
sand1
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Is it better to read Kant in English or Italian?

I have heard that it is quite a hard task to translate Kant's ideas from German. Is it better to read the Critique of Pure Reason in English or Italian? I have heard some people say that English is better because the languages are more similar.
user35319
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What did Aristotle mean by λόγος in the phrase «ὁ...κατὰ τοὔνομα λόγος τῆς οὐσίας ἕτερος»?

In the beginning of his Categories, Aristotle wrote, Ὁμώνυμα λέγεται ὧν ὄνομα μόνον κοινόν, ὁ δὲ κατὰ τοὔνομα λόγος τῆς οὐσίας ἕτερος, οἷον ζῷον ὅ τε ἄνθρωπος καὶ τὸ γεγραμμένον τούτων γὰρ ὄνομα μόνον κοινόν, ὁ δὲ κατὰ τοὔνομα λόγος τῆς οὐσίας…
Der Übermensch
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What is the appropriate English translation of the German terms "Realität" and "Wirklichkeit"?

In epistemology & ontology "Realität" relates to what we perceive as our environment - objects, sounds,.... So a optical illusion would be not real in sense of "Wirklichkeit", its not a real existing part/object of the universe, but perceived and…
Hauser
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Reference - Heidegger on Hölderlin's translations?

Surely Heidegger was well aware of the enormous power of Hölderlin's translations, especially of Sophocles' tragedies. Did Heidegger write something about this facet of Hölderlin?
tttbase
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What does Foucault mean by discursive practices or discursive constitutions in definition of discourse?

Foucault uses the concept of discursive practices or discursive constitutions in the definition of discourse. What does he mean by this concept? How are discursive practices different from discourses?
user4418
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Best translation of the Timaeus

Hello everyone (first question on this site) I'm doing some reading/research on Leibniz's theodicy, and a random article I read has convinced me that Plato's Timaeus would tell me a lot of interesting background. Never read it yet (in my BA course…
SebTHU
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When were the works of Confucius first translated to the West?

I want to know how much the Enlightenment philosophers knew of the works of Confucius. This page cites a translation from 1687 into Latin, while Wikipedia talks of 3 different translations before 1700, apparently all into Latin. I think it's safe to…
Rodrigo
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Translation of a greek word in Stoic thought

I'm reading this article on Ariston of Chios. On the 9th page of the article Schofield uses " ἡγεμονιχόν", stating that the "What Ariston had noticed was that, although committed to a plurality of virtues, the Stoics nonetheless were content to…
Dennis
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How literal or free are Bloom's and Jowett's translations of the Republic?

There was a particular passage in Plato's Republic that I wanted to track down; Gutenberg's (Jowett) etext for part of it reads: And therefore when any one of these pantomimic gentlemen, who are so clever that they can imitate anything, comes to…
Christos Hayward
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Kant's Prolegomena §6 text interpretation "might reveal itself through these its effects"

I'm having a hard time trying to interpret this part of the text: Does not this capacity, since it is not, and cannot be, based on experience, presuppose some a priori basis for cognition, which lies deeply hidden, but which might reveal itself…
gsmafra
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