[Buddha-l] Re: exegesis vs hermeneutics

[Gad Horowitz]

Richard, you should take comfort from the fact that even the pomo bogeyman
J.Derrida would take a position very much like yours on translation.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Hayes" <rhayes at unm.edu>
To: <buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 3:09 PM
Subject: [Buddha-l] Re: exegesis vs hermeneutics


> Christian Coseru says: "Besides, it is rather indulgent to
> claim that we can read fourth or fifth century Buddhist
> texts as they were read by those for whom these texts were
> written: fourth and fifth century Buddhists."
>
> It could be said to be indulgent to try to run 100 meters
> in zero seconds, but if you think about it, that's what
> everyone who runs a race is trying to do. Everyone fails,
> of course, but whoever comes closest to the impossible
> goal is the winner of the race.
>
> Similarly, it goes without saying that it is impossible to
> read a text exactly as it was understood by its author.
> This is, nevertheless, the idea of a translator. Of course
> a translator fails, but that does not mean that no one
> should try his or her best to come as close humanly
> possible to understand a text as its author meant it to be
> understood. It takes, as you well know, a lot of very
> difficult work, and the rewards of doing a good job are
> mostly intangible. The main reward is probably the
> enjoyment of doing something challenging.
>
> Having said that, I think we can say that some
> translations are objectively better than others,
> demonstrably more accurate and palpably less imperfect. No
> one ever meets the ideal of a translation, which is to
> recreate exactly the meaning of the original author, but
> some scholars fails more dramatically than others. The
> goal of any exegete is to fail somewhat less dramatically
> than others have done.
>
> It may astonish you and Herr Hoogscarpel that I can still
> say such seemingly naive things even after reading
> Sophisticated Germans like Gadamer and Nietzsche. If so,
> enjoy your astonishment to your heart's content. For
> myself, my joy comes in doing exegesis as well as my
> limitations make possible and then turning to a bit of
> hermeneutics for sport. If anyone else benefits from what
> I do, fine. If not, tant pis.
>
> -- 
> Richard Hayes
> Department of Philosophy
> University of New Mexico
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