A Study Of Inter-subjectivity In Translation

Translation study absorbs scientific resources from sociology, psychology, philosophy, politics, etc, making it catch up with the development of other humanities. Translation study is always a subjective behavior. Translation process is always driven by the willing of some subject. Subjectivity has always been a hot topic with deep impact but its development in translation falls far behind its study in philosophy. Since the beginning of the seventeenth century, Descartes has come up with subjectivity. After being advanced by Kant, developed by Hegel and brisked by Husserl, it declines and begins to be developed into inter-subjectivity. The translator's subjectivity is fettered. A new theory is needed to get translation out of this dilemma. The issue of inter-subjectivity has been on hot debate. Comparatively speaking, inter-subjectivity in translation came too late.The theoretical basis of inter-subjectivity has been an obstacle for many researchers on this issue. Its study needs the researchers to study on the western philosophy and the relationship between those philosophical theories and the translation. This paper analyzes the theoretical basis of inter-subjectivity in philosophy, which mainly includes Husserl's phenomenology and Habermas's communicative rationality. Husserl's phenomenology believes that inter-subjective experience is an empathic experience. And he came up with the notion of"life-world". Habermas came up with three basic validity claims in any speech act: sincerity, rightness and truth.This paper talks about what's the meaning of subject, subjectivity and inter-subjectivity. It studies who is the subject in translation. Then it probes into the study of inter-subjectivity in ancient Chinese literature, aesthetic and beliefs, etc. It studies the inter-relationship between the reader, the author and the translator in details.The purpose of this paper is to clarify the development of inter-subjectivity in western philosophy, in ancient China and the most important in translation study. It is hoped to give readers a clear picture of inter-subjectivity study and offer some systematic theoretical basis and direction for further study.