Logical Reasoning

PT147 · S1 · Q19 Any literary translation

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Any literary translation is a compromise between two goals that cannot be entirely reconciled: faithfulness to the meaning of the text and faithfulness to the original author's style.

Conclusion (Thus)

Even the most skillful translation will be at best a flawed approximation of the original work.

Evidence

Every translation is a compromise between two goals that can't be entirely reconciled: you can't be entirely faithful to the meaning of the text while being entirely faithful to the author's style.

Evaluate / Goal

On Principle-Strengthen questions, we're generally just looking for a Linking idea that gets us from Evidence to Conclusion.

So here that would be something like,

If a translation is either not at best a totally faithful to meaning → flawed or not totally faithful to style approx.

19.

Which one of the following principles, if valid, most helps to justify the reasoning in the argument above?

  1. A translation of a literary

    Unrelated to Goal

    This answer doesn't have any conclusion language in it that would help us prove that something is "at best a flawed approximation". It doesn't even match the vibe of the argument. The argument was acting like it's a bad / flawed thing that we can't be faithful to both meaning and style. This answer is saying that's actually a good thing.

    1% picked this

  2. If a literary translation is

    If-Conclusion

    We're trying to support/prove a conclusion that something is a flawed approximation, so that language has to be on the right side of the arrow. "If xyz, then flawed approximation of the original work". This answer is committing the cardinal sin of putting the conclusion on the left of the arrow, which is always wrong. It's saying, "If a flawed approximation, then xyz".

    3% picked this

  3. The most skillful literary translation

    Unrelated to Goal

    This answer doesn't have any conclusion language in it that would help us prove that something is "at best a flawed approximation". This is also an incredibly weakly worded answer. Saying that "X will not necessarily be Y" means that "there is at least one X that is not Y". Answers that only speak to at-least-one data point are almost always wrong on Strengthen, Weaken, Paradox, and Sufficient Assumption.

    7% picked this

  4. Correct

    Any translation that is not

    Why this is right

    This provides the Linking idea we were seeking, getting us from what was discussed in the Evidence to what we're trying to prove in the Conclusion. This rule says: if translation is not then at best entirely faithful to ? a flawed both meaning and style approximation We were told that every translation, including even the most skillful ones, will not be able to simultaneously be entirely faithful to meaning and faithful to style. So according to this rule, even the most skillful translation will be at best a flawed approximation.

    Skill tested: Principle-Strengthen · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    65% picked this

  5. Not even the most skillful

    Unrelated to Goal

    This answer doesn't have any conclusion language in it that would help us prove that something is "at best a flawed approximation". This just restates the meaning of the first sentence. You can't strengthen an argument by reiterating something we were already told / already know. Given that "any literary translation" can't be faithful to both meaning and style, we can infer that any specific type of literary translation ("the most skillful") can't be faithful to both meaning and style.

    24% picked this

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