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Sample translations submitted: 1
French to English: De l'ontologie à l'éthique // From Ontology to Ethics General field: Other Detailed field: Philosophy
Source text - French Loin d'interpréter la méthode phénoménologique comme une mise entre parenthèses de tout préjugé et de toute connaissance pré-philosophique, Lévinas prend au sérieux son attention pour les conditions concrètes dans lesquelles la pensée humaine est toujours enracinée. Aux yeux du philosophe d'origine lituanienne, Husserl ne représente pas seulement le partisan de l'épochè radicale, mais celui qui n'a pas manqué de soulignent l'impossibilité de dépasser complètement la naïveté que tout mouvement philosophique implique. «C'est peut-être pour cette mise en garde contre la pensée claire, oublieuse de ses horizons constituants, que l'œuvre husserlienne aura été la plus immédiatement utile à tous les théoriciens et, notamment, à tous ceux qui s'imaginent spiritualiser la pensée théologique, morale ou politique en méconnaissant les conditions concrètes et, en quelque façon, charnelles où puisent leur vrai sens les nations en apparence plus pures». Lévinas fait allusion ici au fond de passivité qui caractérise la phénoménologie husserlienne, malgré le primat qu'elle confère au moment actif et constituant de la subjectivité transcendantale. Comme si elle se découvrait soudainement conditionnée et constituée par ce qu'elle pensait posséder et dominer totalement et absolument: voilà pourquoi Lévinas parle de l'«ambiguïté de la consitution, où le noème conditionne et abrite la noèse qui le constitue». La phénoménologie, malgré son souci de se présenter en tant que pensée pure et non contaminée par des présupposés extérieurs, montre une certaine prédilection «pour les attributs culturels que la pensée constitue, mais dont elle se nourrit déjà dans la constitution (…). Méconnaître ce conditionnement c'est produire des abstractions, équivoques et vides dans la pensée».
Sa fidélité à la méthode phénoménologique n'empêche donc pas le philosophe lituanien de considérer le rôle joué par la tradition juive en tant que source de sa réflexion philosophique. Cette tradition est largement traversée par un vif intérêt pour la singularité de l'être humain et de son agir. La Bible en effet raconte des événements uniques et met en scène des personnes auxquelles Dieu s'addresse selon des modalités à chaque fois nouvelle. C'est le cas de l'appel d'Abraham ou de Moïse, épisodes génétiques de l'historie du peuple d'Israël: Abraham est appelé par Dieu à la première personne et il est envoyé vers une terre qu'il ne connaît pas, poussé uniquement par la confiance dans la parole que l'Absolu lui a adressé. Et Abraham, à la différence d'Ulysse qui a quitté Ithaque dans le seul but d'y revenir, part pour une terre lointaine sans aucun espoir de retourner un jour à Ur en Chaldée.
Translation - English Far from interpreting phenomenological method as a bracketing of all prejudice and pre-
philosophical knowledge, Levinas is serious about attending to the concrete conditions in which human thought is always rooted. In the eyes of the originally Lithuanian philosopher, Husserl is not only an example of a partisan of the radical épochè, but also someone who managed to underscore the impossibility of completely surpassing the naïveté that all philosophical movements imply. “It is perhaps through this caveat directed against clear thought, forgetful of its constituent horizons, that Husserl's work
was most immediately useful to all theoreticians, particularly to all those who imagine they spiritualize theological, moral, or political thought by their failure to recognize the concrete and in a sense carnal conditions from which the ostensibly purer notions derive their true meaning.” Levinas is alluding here to the backdrop of passivity that characterizes Husserlian phenomenology, despite the primacy that it grants to the active and constituting moment of transcendental subjectivity. As if it suddenly found itself conditioned and constituted by what it thought it totally and absolutely possessed and dominated: here is why Levinas speaks of the “ambiguity of constitution, whereby the noema conditions and shelters the noesis that constitutes it, is played out.” Phenomenology, despite its concern for presenting itself as pure thought uncontaminated by external presuppositions, shows a certain predilection “for the cultural attributes that thought constitutes, but from which it already nourishes itself in the constitution…. Failure to recognize this conditioning leads to the production of abstractions, equivocations, and gaps in thought.”
Consequently, his fidelity to phenomenological method does not prevent the Lithuanian
philosopher from considering the role the Jewish tradition plays as a source of his
philosophical reflection. This tradition is significantly influenced by a lively interest in the singularity of the human being and his action. Indeed, the Bible recounts unique events and presents people who are addressed by God in a
new way on each successive occasion. This is the case of Abraham or Moses’ calling, formative episodes in the history of the people of Israel: Abraham is called by God in the first person and he is sent to a land that he does not know, carried onward solely by the confidence in the word that the Absolute addressed to him. And Abraham, unlike Ulysses, who left Ithaca with the exclusive goal of returning, sets off for a distant land without any hope of going back one day to Ur in Chaldea.
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Master's degree - Indiana University
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Years of experience: 14. Registered at ProZ.com: Jun 2012.
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TRANSLATION EXPERIENCE (SEE MORE AT WWW.CROWNWEBER.COM)
▪ Literary Translation
I have leveraged knowledge of the Enlightenment, the digital humanities infrastructure of glossaries and historical dictionaries, as well as background knowledge of higher modern/eighteenth-century registers to create a novel translation replete with period dialogue and sumptuous abstraction (Dolbreuse) or surreally deployed everyday knowledge of the era (Mercier’s Songes d’un Hermite [Dreams of a Hermit] (1770))
▪ I published excerpt from first novel in translation, Songes d’un Hermite (A Dreaming Hermit), available from Trinity Journal of Literary Translation (Dublin, Ireland). [September 2023]
▪ Academic Translation
I have synergized humanities and social-sciences knowledge from a student exchange at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (2007-8), teaching exchange at Paris University - Nanterre (2015-16), degrees in French Literature and Social Theory from Princeton (2010, BA) and Comparative Literature from Indiana (2015, MA) (with a focus on anglophone, francophone, russophone, and teutonophone traditions). This has allowed me to translate French articles, journal descriptions, abstracts, prospectuses, and websites into elegant English for various clients [350,000-plus words] [2012–13, 2016–]
PRAISE FROM TRANSLATION AND WRITING CLIENTS
“Stephan did an exceptional job translating some very difficult and archaic works from the 18th century for me. He is a grammatical master! I am very pleased with the results and highly recommend him. He is an outstanding French translator.” – Rita Bertolli, New Broadcast Media, April 2013 (comments on Upwork)
“We have worked with Stephan regularly over a five-year period. Conscientious and insightful, he has a flair for revealing nuances in difficult French source texts.” – Mark Mellor, Cadenza Academic Translations, November 2018 (comments viewable on LinkedIn)
“This is great, characteristically madcap, funny, otherworldly. Sonorous and possessed of rhythm. I don't know how you do it.” – acceptance letter from Manuel Marrero, ExPat Press, September 2024
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