A Study On The Rationality Of Translational Action

"Rationality", a subversive philosophical concept to "Reason" which has dominated Western philosophy research ever since Plato and Aristotle and gradually transformed into "Scientific Reason" after Descartes, sparks very hot debates among 20th century philosophers as a result of the long reflective and critical thinking to human Reason, especially Scientific Reason. This thesis first introduces "rationality" into translation studies, under whose guide tranlational action and contemporary translation research models are reflectively studied and categorized. The thesis focuses on the "rationality" in translational action, and furthers into the study of its research dimensions, expository models and the relationship between its effective criteria and translation criticism.This thesis consists of seven chapters. Chapter One "Introduction" depicts and explains how contemporary translation studies gradually focuses on translational action, foretelling that rationality / reason of tranlational action may well become an central research issue. Research purpose, methods and directions and thesis structure are also defined in this chapter.Chapter Two defines "rationality" and its reflective nature. The author reveals its significances to the study of translational action by unveiling that "rationality" is closely related to translation ontology, epistemology, evaluation, practice and research methodology. The thesis proposes that the prerequisites of rationality in translational action coexist in three different observation dimensions and translational action could be investigated from within and from without. Taking Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action as its underlying philosophy and rationale, the thesis assumes that translation is a communicative action mediated by language, which relates simultaneously to three worlds, objective, social and subjective. Therefore, the investigation of translational action could not be made thorough or justified within only one or two research dimensions. The thesis argues that the rationality in translational action should be observed in all the three worlds, for they propose different effective criterion for translational action. The objective world demands "facticity" for translational action, while the social and the subjective worlds demand "normativity" and "sincerity". The publicity of the language media on which translational action is carried demands "comprehensibility", a prerequisite also for the other three criteria to be effective. This standpoint offers a theoretical framework for understanding and explaining translational action, as well as for making translation criticism.Chaper Three makes a general survey of typical understandings of tranlational action in contemporary translation studies, which were classified into three research dimensions, demonstrating that contemporary translation theories co-exist in three different dimensions. The paper also argues that the shifts of views and turns of paradigms in translation studies indicate shifts of research dimensions, which implies a co-existence of different research angles and a liability for an integrated translation theory.Chapter Four starts with the question of whether translational action is reasoned, and then it deduces from the perspective of cognitive science that translational action is not only reasoned but also "rational". The thesis then probes into expository models of mental process of translating, ascribing high typological meaning to Bell's model which, in the author's view, stands for the direction of explaining translation process from within. The thesis also points out an expository necessity lying between the description of macro - factors governing translation process and the description of the language operation process, thus making preparation for the construction of RTA (rational translational action) expository model.In Chapter Five, the thesis first introduces the psychological theory of reasonedand planned behavior, and then it proposes and explains possible parameters oftranslational action, and finally a rational translational action (RTA) expository modelis constructed. The thesis expounds that translational actions does not always rely onthe complex literal, logical and fonnal reasoning. There are also automatic, defaultedand semi-automatic translational actions which are not mathematical in nature. RTAmodel consists of parameter aggregates of intention, norm beliefs, behavior beliefs,control beliefs and background factors, and therefore it links up the three worlds andexplains the phase of translation process which is right before the language operation.Chapter Six clarifies the effective criteria for the rationality of translationalaction, explicates the relationship between these criteria and translation criticism, andproposes principles for translation criticism from the perspective of "rationality". Thethesis emphasizes the view that text criticism and translation activities criticismshould be done separately. In text criticism, the criteria of facticity, normativity,sincerity and comprehensibility should be tempered with text type, content and theme,language function, communicative model and speech act. In translation activitycriticism, an interpretive description and a value judgment of a translation activity areboth essential. The former depicts a translation activity interpretively, using anexpository model; the later comments on a translation activity from both technicalaspect and ethical aspect, of which the ethical criticism takes priority.Chapter Seven summarizes the main views and findings of the research, points out the limitations of the thesis, and proposes research questions for future studies.