Over the past two decades, the concept of authenticity has been the subject of considerable disagreement and debate. Although there have been attempts at reconciling various existing approaches,... Show moreOver the past two decades, the concept of authenticity has been the subject of considerable disagreement and debate. Although there have been attempts at reconciling various existing approaches, the literature is still short on a definition that is both practical and precise. This article proposes to make significant headway to that effect by suggesting that authenticity can be accounted for by an underlying psychological phenomenon known as essentialism. In making our case, we first provide an overview of present-day objectivist and constructivist positions and point out their shortcomings, after which we introduce an essentialist account of authenticity. We then argue essentialism has profound benefits over contemporary views and might be the best overarching framework we have, if we intend to reach consensus on the meaning of authenticity. Show less
Translation studies have moved beyond the phase of discussing translatability and untranslatability of a source text from the linguistic perspective alone. Issues such as gender and language... Show moreTranslation studies have moved beyond the phase of discussing translatability and untranslatability of a source text from the linguistic perspective alone. Issues such as gender and language inequality have entered the scene, foregrounding translation as a contextual, political, and potentially transformative act. Insofar as translation has to do with a mode of encounter firmly embedded in the on-going disproportional distribution of knowledge and power, the relation between translation and original lies at the heart of translation as a performance, whereas the question of how to mobilise this relation becomes crucial to appropriating translation as a strategy. This paperdraws upon the writings of Walter Benjamin, Judith Butler, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak to look into translation asa practice wherein the source text is acted out through the translator and the audience. While these theorists have formulated distinct views in terms of the role of the translator, this paper will focus on the notion of failure, which is proposed by Spivak and more thoroughly developed by Hetain Patel and Yuyu Rau in their stage performance Who am I? Think Again. If translation concerns doingsomething as supposed to merely sayingsomething,this stage work shows that failure is constitutive to translation as a practice and that the performance of failure is productive to translation as a strategy. Show less
Land-Zandstra, A.M.; Gerven, D.J.J. van; Damsma, W. 2018
“There is always some madness in love. But there is always some reason in madness,” says Nietzsche when he talks about man’s ultimate search for authentic love. Why are we so desperate looking for... Show more“There is always some madness in love. But there is always some reason in madness,” says Nietzsche when he talks about man’s ultimate search for authentic love. Why are we so desperate looking for love? And why do we search for authentic love; that is love which is not motivated by other reasons than love itself? And can this kind of love really be found? In this paper I discuss the possibility of authentic love in the light of Jean-Paul Sartre’s philosophy. Show less
