Table Of ContentElmar Waibl - Philip Herdina
Dictionary of Philosophical
Terms
Vol 1: German - English
Wörterbuch philosophischer
Fachbegriffe
Band 1: Deutsch - Englisch
K-G-Saur - Routledge
1997
First published 1997
by K.G. Saur Verlag
Ortlerstraße 8
D-81373 München
Simultaneously published
in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
and in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Applied for
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme
Waibl, Elmar:
Dictionary of Philosophical Terms = Wörterbuch philosophischer
Fachbegriffe / Elmar Waibl-Philip Herdina. - München : Säur ;
London ; New York, NY : Routledge
ISBN 3-598-11329-3 (Säur)
ISBN 0-415-17890-8 (Routledge)
Vol 1. German-English. - 1997
ISBN 3-598-11341-2 (Saur)
ISBN 0-415-17888-6 (Routledge)
Θ
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No part of this publication may be reproduced,
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Vol 1: ISBN 3-598-11341-2 (K.G. Saur)
2-vols set: ISBN 3-598-11329-3 (K.G. Saur)
Vol 1: ISBN 0-415-17888-6 (Routledge)
2-vols set: ISBN 0-415-17890-8 (Routledge)
CONTENTS
Introduction VII
1. Aims VII
2. Selection of Terms VII
3. Mode of Entry IX
4. Abbreviations and Symbols ΧΠ
5. Cross-References ΧΙΠ
6. Translation Problems XIV
Dictionary of Philosophical Terms:
German - English A-Z 1
Index of Philosophical Titles German - English 357
Index of Names to Philosophical Titles 399
INHALT
Vorwort XVH
1. Zielsetzung XVII
2. Auswahl XVD
3. Eintragungsmodus XIX
4. Abkürzungen und Zeichen XXII
5. Verweisstruktur ΧΧΙΠ
6. Übersetzungsproblematik XXIV
Wörterbuch philosophischer Fachbegriffe:
Deutsch - Englisch A-Z 1
Verzeichnis philosophischer Werktitel Deutsch - Englisch 357
Namenverzeichnis zu den philosophischen Werktiteln 399
INTRODUCTION
1. Aims
Multilingual dictionaries are commonplace in most fields of research. Unfortunately
this does not appear to be the case in philosophy. This gap is to be filled by the
dictionary in hand, which is to provide an instrument for the acquisition of foreign
language competence in the field of philosophy.
Since English is increasingly becoming the lingua franca of philosophy, as well as
of other disciplines, an acquaintance with English technical terminology has become
increasingly important in gaining access to the international scientific community.
As mobility (in the context of academic exchange programmes and guest professor-
ships) is dependent on foreign language competence, the command of technical
English has progressively become an important precondition of participation in the
global job market. For the English speaking world the dictionary provides a means
to gain better access to the language which is of particular significance to philoso-
phy through thinkers like Kant and Hegel, Nietzsche and Freud, Heidegger and Ha-
bermas.
This dictionary aims to open up new possibilities. As this is a pioneering intellec-
tual undertaking and we could not rely on the efforts of past generations of scholars,
the editors were confronted with the same difficulties all pioneers have to face: Pig-
mei gigantum umeris impositi, plusquam ipsi gigantes vident.
2. Selection of Terms
The question of a clear demarcation of topic is a crucial one for every dictionary and
- as every user knows - is always only successful in part. For the following reasons
this issue is a particularly complex one for a technical dictionary of philosophy:
(1) As a foundational science or theory of principles (of being, knowledge, ethics,
art etc.) philosophy does not occupy a specific sector in the spectrum of humanities
and sciences, but addresses principal questions in virtually all fields. Accordingly, the
terminology used in philosophy is correspondingly broad, making the selection of
technical terms particularly difficult.
Due to the fact that philosophy touches on so many related subjects it has been con-
sidered advisable to include technical terms from related fields as far as they are con-
sidered relevant to the philosophical discussion. In keeping with this principle,
concepts deriving, for example, from mathematics, economics, technology, and art
have been included in so far as they pertain to the philosophy of mathematics, the
INTRODUCTION vm
philosophy of economics, the philosophy of technology, and the philosophy of art,
whilst technical terms which have no significance outside their specific field are
ignored. As the views concerning the necessary terminology of a specific field of
philosophy vary, the selection of terms will always contain a certain arbitrariness.
What seems a dispensable entry to one user may appear to be of great significance to
another for a certain reason. In cases of doubt the experts in the respective fields were
consulted. Every selection of terms is based on the knowledge that it is impossible
to fulfil every user's expectations. We have also tried to avoid a prescriptive
approach, not giving in to the temptation to define what philosophy is and what it is
not.
(2) Viewed historically, difficulties derive from the fact that many scientific disci-
plines were once part of philosophy and only slowly separated from their mother
subject. The mathematicians and natural scientists of the past were philosophers,
just as the father of modern economics was one. The same holds for theory of law,
theory of the state, social theory, theory of art, psychology, and other subjects.
The fact that some terms included can also be found in other general or technical
dictionaries can hardly be seen as an argument for the exclusion of the term. Terms
that are considered to be philosophically relevant are listed for practical reasons. If
one were, for example, to look up uncertainty principle in a dictionary of physics,
labour theory of value in a dictionary of economics, and high risk technology in a
dictionary of technology, one would require a plethora of reference works containing
a very high percentage of entries probably never used in philosophical discussion.
Frequently the impression of a degree of redundancy in the selection of terms is a
superficial one. In fact, many entries share a specific philosophical meaning with a
general one we might recognise. Thus Heidegger's Zeug or Gestell might provide
such examples. What at first glance seem to be terms derived from everyday language
turn out to be concepts taken from philosophical discourse.
But even where the philosophical meaning coincides with everyday meaning, this
also constitutes an important piece of information for the user. When this is not the
case, this kind of information is also significant. Occasionally ordinary language
terms serve as cross-references to technical terms such as Interesse to Erkenntnis-
interesse, Ironie to sokratische Ironie, Kolonisation to Kolonisation der Lebenswelt,
and so on.
One of the problems to be addressed was the question of how far rare terms associated
with particular philosophical schools should be included. With regard to the criterion
of a balanced approach, we determined that the question of the significance of entries
has to be decided on the basis of immanent criteria by adherents of the respective
traditions and schools. To the analytical philosopher Heideggerian terms will largely
appear dispensable, whilst Heideggerians will show little interest in the terminology
of analytical philosophy. The main aim must be to ensure that the adherent of a
IX INTRODUCTION
school finds the core terms in his or her field of work. Some philosopher may be
glad to discover a translation for angeborene Tötungshemmung as found in research
on aggression and peace studies, the other will be pleased to find exzentrische
Positionalität in philosophical anthropology and another Falsifikationismus in the
theory of science, or the metaphysical Abschiedlichkeit. The main aim must be to
provide every user with an answer to his or her specific query.
Names are only listed if the spelling differs in the respective language (e.g. Aristote-
les* Aristotle).
Latin and Greek terms were included in so far as these were considered customary
terms or expressions that play a significant role in the German technical language of
philosophy. The same applies to the selection of Asian terms included.
Irrespective of our attempts to ensure a balanced selection of entries the particular
problems resulting from the nature of philosophy make it clear that the issue of the
subject-related selection of entries will never be solved to everyone's satisfaction.
Whoever is required to work with a large number of dictionaries will, however, con-
cede that this problem applies to most fields.
As it is, generally speaking, very difficult to determine the appropriate translations
of philosophical titles, and these frequently contain information relevant to the en-
tries in the dictionary, a list of titles is contained in the appendix. Where appropriate,
the dictionary entries contain cross-references to the titles listed.
3. Mode of Entry
As we assume that a bilingual technical dictionary is only used by people with some
command of the target language, the relevant information is presented to the user as
succinctly as possible - in accordance with the example set by technical dictionaries
in other fields. Each entry is intended to provide as much information as possible
with a minimum of words.
- Order of entries: The entries are alphabetical, the German umlaut (ä, ö, ü) being
treated as a normal vowel (a, o, u). In accordance with the example set by many
technical dictionaries, groups of words are sorted word by word, the comma (e.g. in
Tatsache, empirische) and the hyphen (e.g. in Tatsache-Wert-Unterscheidung) being
ignored. Compounds, which can also be written as one word and are hyphenated only
for better readability (e.g. Anti-Illusionismus/Antiillusionismus) are sorted as one
term, as the use of hyphens is largely arbitrary and meaningful clusters of entries
often result from this sorting algorithm. Heideggerian terms, however, are treated
differently, as the words with hyphenated prefixes are generally marked by a change
of philosophical meaning compared to the unhyphenated prefixes (e.g. Ent-fernung
vs. Entfernung).
INTRODUCTION Χ
A sample list of entries would therefore run as follows:
Tatsache der reinen Vernunft
Tatsache, empirische
Tatsache-Wert- Unterscheidung
Tatsachenargument
- Order of items in attribute-head phrases: In agreement with general lexicographic
practice, the entries are generally listed according to the first word to occur (e.g.
Nietzsche's blonde Bestie), and in other noun and adjective combinations under the
most significant word in the entry (e.g. Seins, Wesen des). As the significant part of
the entry cannot always be clearly determined, some entries occur more than once
with a different lemma. This allows the formation of meaningful clusters.
- Compound nouns and periphrastic genitive constructions: In German many entries
are used both in a compound and in periphrastic form (e.g. Individuationsprinzip
versus Prinzip der Individuation). Where this is the case, frequently both expressions
are listed. Generally, however, the entries are selected according to usage.
- Hyphenation: Whether a word is written with a hyphenated prefix (such as Anti-,
Contra- or Pseudo-) or not is frequently arbitrary. The entries are therefore either
hyphenated or not and have neither been systematized nor entered in both the hyphen-
ated and unhyphenated form. Refer to the comments on sorting principles (see Order
of entries above).
- Capitalization: In accordance with grammatical usage, Latin and Greek nouns are
capitalized if they are considered part of the German vocabulary; otherwise they are
not. ITiere do not appear to be any generally accepted principles even amongst
experts. For capitalization in English see 6. Translation Problems.
- Singular or plural forms: Nouns whose singular and plural forms are identical in
German are translated by singular terms (e.g. Hegelianer = Hegelian). Nouns that
usually occur only in the plural are entered in the plural (e.g. Eigentumsverhältnisse,
notiones communes) and are marked as such (pi). Even if a singular form could be
derived from the entry, a singular gender marker is not included, in order to preclude
misinterpretations of the entry. German plural forms are always preceded by the
article die. The user is advised to rely on his or her knowledge of the language.
- Case and gender: When the entry consists of more then one noun, the gender
marker refers to the head (noun) of the phrase and determines which article is to be
used with the expression, e.g. Abschreckungsfunktion des Gesetzes f means DIE
Abschreckungsfunktion des Gesetzes. This principle also applies to reordered entries
such as Sprachgeschöpf, Mensch als m which should be read as DER Mensch als
Sprachgeschöpf. For reasons of economy the lemma is always provided just as it
occurs in the respective expression, e.g. Werdens, Stufen des. In attribute-head
