A Philosophic Perspective On The "Turns" In Translation Studies

In the twenty-first century, there are many different schools and theories in the translation studies field, representing the good momentum of the discipline. In this kind of atmosphere for academic research, there are some researchers bringing forth the ideas that the translation studies have turned or are going to turn to this or that way. Apart from the well-known "linguistic turn" and "cultural turn" in the20th century, there are many "turns" in present translation studies field, such as "translator's turn","creative turn","reality turn","practice turn","overt turn","covert turn","sociological turn","empirical turn","globalization turn" and "ideological turn" and so on.It is necessary for a discipline to adapt new situation and methods and explore unbrokenly the new trail so as to promote its academic development. So are the translation studies. The "turns" in present translation studies represent the trends of pursuing new approaches and openings. But they may cause problems for those who get lost when facing many directions. Therefore, some scholars criticize the "turns" and call for translation studies to return ontologically to linguistic study. In consideration of the criticisms on the "turns" in translation studies, the dissertation takes the "turns" at whole as the research objects, describing diachronically and analyzing synchronically their main contents, characteristics, theoretic moves and academic backgrounds, and tries to make a theoretical exploration on the ontology and methodology of translation studies.The dissertation consists of seven chapters, including an introduction, body part and a conclusion.Chapter1introduces the causes, main contents of this researching project and methods used in the study. Although there are some remarks on the "turns" in translation studies, we should do more theoretical analysis to comprehend thoroughly the "turns" at whole in hoping for a better understanding of the translation studies' future development.Before the present "turns" coming into being in translation studies field, there have successively appeared the "linguistic turn" and "cultural turn" in translation history. Since the two "turns" have brought forth the linguistic paradigm and cultural paradigm, helping the translation studies breaking away the limits of traditional philologic paradigm and moving towards to a scientific discipline, chapter2focuses on the description of the "linguistic turn" and "cultural turn", studying their theoretical backgrounds, main contents, characteristics and their impact on translation studies.Chapter3describes the present "turns" in translation studies, and makes a simple classification of these "turns" after studying their contents, characteristics and their relationship with "linguistic turn" and "cultural turn" in the past translation studies history.Chapter4analyzes the theoretical causes and philosophic moves underlying these "turns" in translation studies. The author holds that the rich tradition of translation theories is the foundation of all these "turns", while the interdisciplinary exchanges are another important theoretical resource for their appearance. In addition, the transition of the spirit of the time and philosophic thoughts also have great effects on translation studies.Chapter5takes the debate on the ontology of translation studies as the object. The "turns" in translation studies do not mean any changing of the nature of translation, but the appearance of new methods or viewpoints. In theoretical analysis of the nature of translation, the author holds that translation itself is a bilingual transferring activity. An ontological understanding of both translation and translation studies should be based on the actual bilingual translating practice. Guided by the principle of the inherent consistency of theory and practice, the author persists in the ontological conception of language as both translation and translation studies.Chapter6explores the methodological changes and developments of translation studies carrying along with these "turns". In analysis of the shifting of viewpoints, paradigms and the innovation of research methods appeared in the "turns" in translation studies, the author points out that the nature of all these "turns" is a change in research methodology, which represents the development of translation studies.In the conclusion, the author summarizes the findings of the research and looks into the prospects of further studies in this area.