Values and Identities Seminar: The Changing Virtues of the Hosting Language: Notes on the Philosophy of Translation by Dr. Gerald Cipriani

Dr. Gerald Cipriani will present a paper, ‘The Changing Virtues of the Hosting Language: Notes on the Philosophy of Translation’, as part of the Values and Identities seminar series on Monday 2nd March.

Depending on whether translation leans toward objective rendering or subjective interpretation it will have different truth-functions. This paper reflects on the issues of truth-function at stake on both sides of the ‘hosting’ language (translation) when seeking to understand ‘otherness’ (original language). The paper will draw from particular examples of translation of Chinese thought such as the literal renderings of the Classics in Western languages, Li Zehou’s concept of ‘subjectenity’ (zhutixing 主體性), and sinologist François Jullien’s Western-inverted ‘deconstruction’. The point here is not to establish validity in translation, but to describe what are the cognitive and ethical implications when understanding in translation.

Gerald Cipriani teaches philosophy at NUI, Galway. He is the Editor of Culture and Dialogue (Brill) and Co-Editor of Journal of Aesthetics and Phenomenology (Routledge). Currently Honorary Professor to the UNESCO Chair at the Russian Research Institute of Cultural and Natural Heritage, Moscow. Previous publications in interpretive philosophy of art, cultural ethics of French personalism and the Kyoto School, and Chinese environmental aesthetics.