A semiosic translation of the term “Bild” in both the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and The Philosophical Investigations

Abstract

AbstractThis paper introduces and defends a way to translate Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and the Philosophical Investigations from a semiotic standpoint. This turn builds on Semiosic Translation (Torres-Martínez 2015, Semiosic translation: A new theoretical framework for the implementation of pedagogically-oriented subtitling. Sign Systems Studies 43(1). 102–130), a framework that advances the interaction of sign systems as a necessary point of departure in the translation process. From this vantage, the key term “Bild,” is analyzed, explained and retranslated into English. This term evinces high levels of complexity and variability that cannot be captured by traditional linguistic translations. In applying a semiotic approach, any iteration of Bild is characterized as reflecting the author’s intentions at a given moment (PI: 108). This semiotic reading seeks to provide semioticians, translators, and philosophers with new conceptual tools leading to an understanding of translation as a systemic operation not confined to the realm of subjective interpretation.