Uwagi o bycie i istnieniu. Na marginesie przekładu książki Étienne Gilsona Constantes philosophiques de l’être
Remarks on being and existence. On the basis of a translation of Étienne Gilsona book Constantes philosophiques de l’être

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, on the basis of an analysis of a translation of the Étienne Gilson’s book we show the terminological difficulties in the Thomistic theory of being. The aim is to differentiate the being itself (ens) from its constitutive elements: existence (esse), essence (essentia) and their manifestations- transcendental properties. Especially demanding is an interpretation of the very term existence (esse) which may denote both, the act of existence internal in a being, and its (act’s) result in a shape of reality (being, subsisting). Particularly the latter differentiation- rather vague- causes a number of difficulties which flow from confusing these two perspectives, that is, the act of existence and reality as manifestation of this act in a being. In this paper we suggest that the theory of existential judgements offered by Gilson, has its roots in a lack of proper differentiation between the two aforementioned. Thus, according to that flaw, the reality of each observed being is considered to be its act of existence whereas the identification (recognition) of an act of existence in a being needs philosophical analyses which result in a conclusion that not every real structure is an individual being. With regard to the art of translation of philosophical text we turned attention to the Gilson’s claim that each text, especially a philosophical one, is written in the perspective of a particular theory of being. This theory is present outright and also, even more frequently, is rooted in the layer of its presumptions and hence, without proper reading its content we will not be able to understand utterances regarding further issues. That is why, when studying a particular text we need to establish the grounds of the aforementioned theory of being and to construct a conceptual framework and understandings proper to an author or a text by following this theory. Similar proceedings suppose to be applied to a translation as we notice how often philosophical terminology of a given author or a text is not in accordance with a common or dictionary meaning of the terms employed, the terms however, have their specific meaning and this specific meaning should be properly translated into another language.

• Details
• Contents