On Livia Kohn’s Translation Of Daoist Precepts From The Perspective Of Translator Ethics

Translator ethics, also ethics of translation operation, being the core element in translation ethics, received wide attention and preference from translation practitioners and translation theorists alike at home and abroad. It regulated translator’s whole act ranging from text selection, translating, to translation revision, which, on the one hand allowed the translator to decide his version as long as his translated version appealed to either the source text or target readers, on the other hand restrained the translator from his irresponsible conducts. The author of this thesis adopted Professor Pengping’s definition as the theoretical basis after a systematic introduction of translator ethics.Regarding the choice of source text, the author selected the currently well-known sinologist as well as Daoist researcher-Livia Kohn’s Cosmos and Community:The Ethical Dimension of Daoism, within which the translation of the 11 representative Daoist precepts was mainly studied and translated. And, Cosmos and Community:The Ethical Dimension of Daoism is the first masterpiece in the world Daoist study that has carried out a systematic research on Daoist precepts and covered all the four kinds of precepts, i.e. prohibitions, admonitions, injunctions and resolutions.According to the five aspects of translator ethics proposed by Professor Peng Ping, the author rendered detailed analysis of Professor Livia Kohn’s choice of the source precept scriptures, then expounded her compliance with the ethics of source text and target readers, illustrated different treatments towards different types of texts under the guidance of translator ethics, and lastly elucidated whether Professor Livia Kohn cultivated a sensible relationship with her middlemen (this thesis mainly focused on the publisher, translation assistant and the reviser).This thesis adopted the emerging theory, translator ethics, to carry out a systematic analysis of Taoist Precepts, classic of Chinese Daoism, hoping not only to enrich the application of translator ethics, contribute to its promotion to a certain extent; but also to flourish the translation study of Daoist Precepts, and thus objectively benefit people’s recognition and understanding of the Precepts.