Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
“l’art porte à son terme ce que la nature n’a pas le pouvoir[...]"
English translation:
"human skill either completes what nature is incapable of completing or imitates nature"
Added to glossary by
John Holland
Feb 18, 2013 14:24
11 yrs ago
French term
“l’art porte à son terme ce que la nature n’a pas le pouvoir[...]"
French to English
Art/Literary
Philosophy
Aesthetics
“l’art porte à son terme ce que la nature n’a pas le pouvoir d’achever ou la mime.”
I am searching for English versions of this quote attributed to Aristotle's "Physics".
Hopefully someone will be more successful searching than I have been.
Thank you
I am searching for English versions of this quote attributed to Aristotle's "Physics".
Hopefully someone will be more successful searching than I have been.
Thank you
Change log
Feb 24, 2013 06:42: John Holland Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
+1
13 mins
Selected
...art partly completes what nature cannot bring to a finish...
According p. 99 of the PDF found at http://www.persee.fr/articleAsPDF/grif_0770-6081_1992_num_46... ,
the quote is found in Book II, section 8 of the Physics.
One translation of that text can be accessed on the MIT Internet Classics Archive, at http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/physics.2.ii.html .
Here's the full sentence, as translated by R. P. Hardie and R. K. Gaye:
"Each step then in the series is for the sake of the next; and generally art partly completes what nature cannot bring to a finish, and partly imitates her."
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Note added at 21 mins (2013-02-18 14:46:11 GMT)
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Here's a rendering from a more recent translation:
"And in general human skill either completes what nature is incapable of completing or imitated nature."
Aristotle, Physics, ed. by David Bostock, trans. by Robin Waterfield (Oxford University Press, USA, 2008), p. 51.
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Note added at 24 mins (2013-02-18 14:49:28 GMT)
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Sorry, there is a typo in the note I added. It should read "imitates", not "imitated"
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Note added at 2 hrs (2013-02-18 16:51:07 GMT)
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@JaneD
Hardie and Gaye's translation of the Physics was published in 1930:
http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&Search...^*&CNT=100&hist=1&type=quick
The Hardie and Gaye translation is now in the public domain and can be consulted easily on the web, including at the MIT Internet Classics Archive to which I linked when I provided the full sentence above.
_________________________________
I also provided the sentence as translated by Waterfield (albeit with a typo). This translation dates from 2008; I also provided a page reference.
To verify the 2008 Waterfield citation, please see the following link:
http://books.google.fr/books?id=QpGlDEJUDVAC&pg=PA51&lpg=PA5...
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Note added at 2 hrs (2013-02-18 16:59:46 GMT)
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Since the link I pasted above doesn't seem to be working, here's an alternate link for the Hardie & Gaye at the Library of Congress:
http://lccn.loc.gov/30014711
the quote is found in Book II, section 8 of the Physics.
One translation of that text can be accessed on the MIT Internet Classics Archive, at http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/physics.2.ii.html .
Here's the full sentence, as translated by R. P. Hardie and R. K. Gaye:
"Each step then in the series is for the sake of the next; and generally art partly completes what nature cannot bring to a finish, and partly imitates her."
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 21 mins (2013-02-18 14:46:11 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Here's a rendering from a more recent translation:
"And in general human skill either completes what nature is incapable of completing or imitated nature."
Aristotle, Physics, ed. by David Bostock, trans. by Robin Waterfield (Oxford University Press, USA, 2008), p. 51.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 24 mins (2013-02-18 14:49:28 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Sorry, there is a typo in the note I added. It should read "imitates", not "imitated"
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2013-02-18 16:51:07 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
@JaneD
Hardie and Gaye's translation of the Physics was published in 1930:
http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&Search...^*&CNT=100&hist=1&type=quick
The Hardie and Gaye translation is now in the public domain and can be consulted easily on the web, including at the MIT Internet Classics Archive to which I linked when I provided the full sentence above.
_________________________________
I also provided the sentence as translated by Waterfield (albeit with a typo). This translation dates from 2008; I also provided a page reference.
To verify the 2008 Waterfield citation, please see the following link:
http://books.google.fr/books?id=QpGlDEJUDVAC&pg=PA51&lpg=PA5...
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2013-02-18 16:59:46 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Since the link I pasted above doesn't seem to be working, here's an alternate link for the Hardie & Gaye at the Library of Congress:
http://lccn.loc.gov/30014711
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks for the help."
+2
14 mins
"art brings to completion what nature cannot"
...
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Note added at 1 hr (2013-02-18 15:28:28 GMT)
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The whole thing, from Hardie and Gaye's translation (2008): "generally art partly completes what nature cannot bring to a finish, and partly imitates her". I find this a bit unsatisfactory, really, but it's the only edition I can find online!
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Note added at 1 hr (2013-02-18 15:28:28 GMT)
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The whole thing, from Hardie and Gaye's translation (2008): "generally art partly completes what nature cannot bring to a finish, and partly imitates her". I find this a bit unsatisfactory, really, but it's the only edition I can find online!
Peer comment(s):
agree |
philgoddard
: Perfect!//Art brings to completion what nature cannot, or imitates her."
27 mins
|
Thanks - unfortunately not perfect if you include the last part of the sentence!
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neutral |
John Holland
: I'm just voting neutral on your reference, since the Hardie and Gaye is from 1930 rather than 2008. Please see the note I added to my answer for links. / Yes, it can be tricky for public domain reissues on Amazon. BTW, the Waterfield is on Amazon, also.
2 hrs
|
Oh dear - that's me looking at Amazon and not noticing it was a reissue, I'm afraid!
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agree |
kashew
: "partly" out!
3 hrs
|
Thanks - No, I'm not keen on the "partly" bits either, it's a very awkward construction to my mind.
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+1
2 hrs
Art puts the finishing touches on nature's attempts and imitations toward perfection
Hello,
It is not overly clear in meaning, but the gyst is there.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100419220311AA...
I hope this helps.
It is not overly clear in meaning, but the gyst is there.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100419220311AA...
I hope this helps.
Discussion
For your overall point, there definitely is a question of register in translation. That is, the translation of an article to be published in a scholarly journal should read like a scholarly article and not an advertisement, etc.... And vice versa!
Sometimes academic language is complex because it is trying to say complex things, and different fields develop different kinds of jargon to express complexity. But I think it's safe to say that much academic writing is also trying to say new things in one way or another, which is not exactly a simple matter. (It's difficult enough that it can be tempting to rely on "effets de style" instead!)
That is one reason for all the references in academic writing: ultimately, they are part of the effort to get to new ideas by drawing contrasts with things already said. They also help readers understand where the author comes from, the sources.
Finally, of course, there is better and worse academic writing, just as there are better and worse translations. I guess it's a question of trying to find the best fit between the style and the intended audience of each text.
We all have our own preferences, but I quite like this simple language approach. I find academic language to be very obfuscating at times, and not at all conducive to the general spread of knowledge and understanding.
But that's all far off the ambit of this question :-) :-p
There are many reasons why this matters. For instance, in many fields, there are accepted translations of certain scholarly works that have introduced new technical terms or specific usages into the target language. One example of this is the term "cathexis," which essentially was created by James Strachey, Freud's English translator. See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathexis
It would not be very helpful to "re-translate" the original German term Besetzung for English readers of Freud. This kind of thing comes up more than you might think when it's a question of translating a commentary on Freud's German from French into English.
Again, this is about academic translation. I'm not in any way meaning to suggest that just because you can find an example of a translation having been used somewhere on the Internet means that it's automatically the best choice, etc.!
No one said that.
"Of course the existing translation is useful, assuming it\'s any good"
Before you said no one should spend their time looking at existing translations.
The quote should read:
"And in general human skill either completes what nature is incapable of completing or imitates nature."
Again, sorry for the error.
This is all the more the case since we are talking about a core philosophy text originally written in Greek, not French.
This is just normal practice when translating scholarly works.