Which were the happiest translators?

In this theoretical paper I engage critically several key issues in translation history theory raised by translation historians in recent years. These methodological and philosophical debates address crucial aspects of the discipline such as epistemic priorities in historical inquiry, the place of t...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: López-Alcalá, Samuel|||0000-0002-2274-9165
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:238035
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/238035
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:History of translation
Methodology
Exclusivism
Pluralism
Historical explanation
Philosophy of history
Historia de la traducción
Metodología
Exclusivismo
Pluralismo
Explicación histórica
Filosofía de la historia
id ES_3e268d7fbb3ebcc672443e07ee401cc3
oai_identifier_str oai:ddd.uab.cat:238035
network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
repository_id_str
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Which were the happiest translators?
the case for methodological pluralism in translation history
¿Quiénes han sido los traductores más felices?
title Which were the happiest translators?
spellingShingle Which were the happiest translators?
López-Alcalá, Samuel|||0000-0002-2274-9165
History of translation
Methodology
Exclusivism
Pluralism
Historical explanation
Philosophy of history
Historia de la traducción
Metodología
Exclusivismo
Pluralismo
Explicación histórica
Filosofía de la historia
title_short Which were the happiest translators?
title_full Which were the happiest translators?
title_fullStr Which were the happiest translators?
title_full_unstemmed Which were the happiest translators?
title_sort Which were the happiest translators?
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv López-Alcalá, Samuel|||0000-0002-2274-9165
author López-Alcalá, Samuel|||0000-0002-2274-9165
author_facet López-Alcalá, Samuel|||0000-0002-2274-9165
author_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv History of translation
Methodology
Exclusivism
Pluralism
Historical explanation
Philosophy of history
Historia de la traducción
Metodología
Exclusivismo
Pluralismo
Explicación histórica
Filosofía de la historia
topic History of translation
Methodology
Exclusivism
Pluralism
Historical explanation
Philosophy of history
Historia de la traducción
Metodología
Exclusivismo
Pluralismo
Explicación histórica
Filosofía de la historia
description In this theoretical paper I engage critically several key issues in translation history theory raised by translation historians in recent years. These methodological and philosophical debates address crucial aspects of the discipline such as epistemic priorities in historical inquiry, the place of translation theories in historical narratives and the related issue of target audiences and constitute valuable contributions to current thinking on central aspects of translation history. I submit here, however, that several aspects of these methodological proposals pose a number of underlying problems, which I classify hierarchically as first-order and second-order difficulties, depending on their perceived epistemic relevance. The primary objection connects partly with what philosopher Paul Roth labels "methodological exclusivism" (Roth, 1987), understood in this essay as the notion that there exists one suitable method for translation history. Building on Roth, I argue for the contrary epistemic position, namely, "methodological pluralism" understood in its most basic meaning as the negation of exclusivism. I posit that methodological exclusivism is unjustifiable and that not only does it have the potential to severely limit freedom of inquiry in the discipline and the historian's choice in the pursuit of knowledge, but it may also produce truncated structures of explanation (McCullagh, 1998).
publishDate 2020
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2
2020-01-01
2020
2020-01-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv Article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
VoR
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://ddd.uab.cat/record/238035
url https://ddd.uab.cat/record/238035
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
instname:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
instname_str Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
reponame_str Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
collection Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
_version_ 1869406507047583744
spelling Which were the happiest translators?the case for methodological pluralism in translation history¿Quiénes han sido los traductores más felices?López-Alcalá, Samuel|||0000-0002-2274-9165History of translationMethodologyExclusivismPluralismHistorical explanationPhilosophy of historyHistoria de la traducciónMetodologíaExclusivismoPluralismoExplicación históricaFilosofía de la historiaIn this theoretical paper I engage critically several key issues in translation history theory raised by translation historians in recent years. These methodological and philosophical debates address crucial aspects of the discipline such as epistemic priorities in historical inquiry, the place of translation theories in historical narratives and the related issue of target audiences and constitute valuable contributions to current thinking on central aspects of translation history. I submit here, however, that several aspects of these methodological proposals pose a number of underlying problems, which I classify hierarchically as first-order and second-order difficulties, depending on their perceived epistemic relevance. The primary objection connects partly with what philosopher Paul Roth labels "methodological exclusivism" (Roth, 1987), understood in this essay as the notion that there exists one suitable method for translation history. Building on Roth, I argue for the contrary epistemic position, namely, "methodological pluralism" understood in its most basic meaning as the negation of exclusivism. I posit that methodological exclusivism is unjustifiable and that not only does it have the potential to severely limit freedom of inquiry in the discipline and the historian's choice in the pursuit of knowledge, but it may also produce truncated structures of explanation (McCullagh, 1998).El presente artículo teórico es un análisis crítico de varios aspectos troncales de teoría de la historia de la Traducción debatidos recientemente por los historiadores de la materia. Dichos debates metodológicos y filosóficos abordan aspectos fundamentales de la disciplina (como las prioridades epistémicas en la investigación histórica, el lugar de las teorías de la traducción en la narración historiográfica y el asunto anejo de los grupos de lectores a los que se destina la historiografía de la traducción), y constituyen aportaciones valiosísimas al status quaestionis de la reflexión metodológica en la disciplina. Dicho esto, mi tesis aquí es que dichas propuestas metodológicas conllevan ciertos problemas que clasifico jerárquicamente en un primer y un segundo orden, en función de la relevancia epistemológica que percibo en ellos. Mi objeción principal enlaza en parte con lo que Paul Roth califica de «exclusivismo metodológico» (Roth, 1987), entendido en este trabajo como la noción de que existe un único método idóneo para hacer historia de la traducción. Basándome en Roth, abogo por la postura epistémica contraria, a saber, el «pluralismo metodológico», cuyo sentido más elemental es la negación del exclusivismo. Sostengo que el exclusivismo metodológico es injustificable y que tiene el potencial de limitar gravemente la libertad de investigación en la disciplina y el abanico de opciones del historiador en la búsqueda de conocimiento. Asimismo, entraña el riesgo de fomentar la producción de estructuras explicativas truncadas (McCullagh, 1998). 22020-01-0120202020-01-01Articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501VoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://ddd.uab.cat/record/238035reponame:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UABinstname:Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaInglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Aquest material està protegit per drets d'autor i/o drets afins. Podeu utilitzar aquest material en funció del que permet la legislació de drets d'autor i drets afins d'aplicació al vostre cas. Per a d'altres usos heu d'obtenir permís del(s) titular(s) de drets.https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:ddd.uab.cat:2380352026-06-06T12:50:31Z
score 15.300724