In Search Of An Ethical Paradigm

This thesis will study On translation,a book written by Paul Ricoeur. Paul Ricoeur (1913-2005) is one of the most important hermeneutic thinkers in France after the Second World War."Translation" has been a central feature of Paul Ricoeur’s philosophy. He emphasizes this concept on many occasions. Though it was not until in2004that he published On translation, the only work copy which focuses on "translation". In this book Ricoeur sums up his whole thinking about translation during his late academic career, containing translatable versus untranslatable, ethics of translation... a series of meta questions in theoretical research of translation.The hermeneutics has always been one of the most important methodologies for translation studies. However, the Chinese academic field seems to pay more attention to Schleiermacher, Heidegger and Gadamer. Ricoeur’s thoughts on translation, based on his theory of text, especially his On translation are discussed less than it should have been. The existing studies only introduce his theory of text, or focus on limited aspects of On translation. Hence a global and systematic view of this volume is required.In view of Ricoeur’s hermeneutic and ethical concepts, combined with the comparison between the thoughts of Benjamin, Derrida and Berman, this work attempts to precede an explicit and extensive research about On translation. Our hypothesis is, only by the word "paradigm", can we understand the essence of Ricoeur’s thoughts on translation. This thesis consists of three chapters plus an introduction and a conclusion. From the paradigm of text, to the paradigm of translation, and finally to the ethical values implicated in the paradigm of translation, we will analyze his thoughts gradually.The introduction begins with a brief overview of Ricoeur’s intellectual itinerary, and then traces the origins of On translation. We will elaborate a review about the existing researches both in China and abroad, finally we will demonstrate the definition of paradigm.The main part of this thesis is further divided into three chapters. Before the analysis of the paradigm of translation, Chapter One acts as a preparation. It illustrates the paradigm of text, the only paradigm underlined by Ricoeur before the paradigm of translation. We will introduce the basic notions of Ricoeur’s theory of text, including discourse, writing, etc. The paradigm of text will be manifested by the backwards and forwards between "distanciation" and "appropriation".Chapter Two seeks to form a clear logical line of On translation and to clarify the succession from the paradigm of text to the paradigm of translation. Ricoeur compares the task of the translator to the psychoanalytic work of remembering and mourning and propose to renounce to the ideal of a perfect translation. The Babel myth aids us to get beyond the ruinous theoretical alternative "translatable versus untranslatable" and to replace it with a new practical wisdom:search the "equivalence without identity" and "translate the untranslatable". The whole volume can be attributed finally to ethics of translation:"linguistic hospitality", by which we will make a further exploration of the ethical values of this paradigm in the next chapter.Chapter Three started with two access routes to the problem posed by the act of translating (outer translation and inner translation). By the light of Ricoeur’s ethical theory, we aim to reveal his paradigm of translation is indeed an ethical paradigm: encounter with the other and discover the self. At last, we will compare Ricoeur’s thoughts with those of Berman, the first desires to draw lessons from the paradigm of translation and to renew his hermeneutics; the second strives to build the translation into a science based on the hermeneutic philosophy.The conclusion supposes Ricoeur’s thoughts on translation can be understood by two dimensions:on one side, the research of translation should be centripetal and adopt the multidisciplinary approaches; on another, centrifugally, the translation remains to become a model for politics, cultures and religions, a paradigm to deal with the alterity and the identity. This paradigm of translation cannot be separated from the ethics. Considering the translation in an ethical way, Ricoeur shows his genuine solicitude for the human fate, particularly in an area of globalization.