Translation Notes: Heidegger, Derrida, and the Chance for (a) Philosophy

TL;DR

This paper explores how translation is both a philosophical problem and a practice, using Heidegger and Derrida to show how it can open new paths for philosophy.

Contribution

It presents translation as a test bed for philosophical frameworks and a chance for deconstruction.

Findings

Heidegger views translation as a 'makeshift' or shipwreck.

Derrida challenges Heidegger by questioning the hierarchy between original and translation.

Translation is shown to generate new philosophical paths and keep questions open.

Abstract

This paper aims to show that translation is not only a fully-fledged philosophical problem, but also a specific philosophical praxis and a test bed for extracting the core of different philosophical frameworks. For this purpose, I will take into consideration the respective philosophies of Martin Heidegger and Jacques Derrida. Even if Heidegger often practices translation from the Greek in his own works and adds a few remarks towards an original investigation of this activity, he ultimately understands translation as a ‘makeshift’ or as a shipwreck. Throughout his contestation of Heidegger’s position, Derrida shows the trap of the endless appropriation of the experience of the origin structure. He also frees up the discourse by putting the hierarchical polarization between the original and the translation into question. Thus, translation becomes a chance for philosophy, even for Derrida’s deconstruction, a chance to generate new paths for investigation and to keep its question open