ABSTRACT
The concepts of “part-whole thinking” and “big details,” introduced in previous chapters, are ways to articulate humanistic translation expertise in the age of artificial intelligence. However, such a defense includes identifying specific varieties of part-whole thinking relevant to humanistic translation. Chapters 3 through 5 therefore explore such varieties by examining statements on part-whole thinking ranging from Plato to cognitive science. While most of these statements were not originally about translation, the chapters link them to humanistic translation with the intention of providing an increasingly rich picture of such translation as part-whole thinking. The selection of statements is based on the author’s understanding, as a teacher and a scholar, of what it entails to have expertise in humanistic translation. Chapter 3 discusses part-whole thinking related to Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Friedrich Schleiermacher, and Wilhelm Dilthey. The reviewed statements explain why and how translation experts focus on such seeming minutiae as commas, specific word arrangements, the mot juste, and so forth, gauging and comparing the effect these minutiae have on key aspects such as characterization, authorial persona, and the reader’s expectations. The examples refer to the translation of novels, film, television, and philosophy.
