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Wissensfigur

English translation: cognitive figure


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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:Wissensfigur
English translation:cognitive figure
Entered by: dobri
Options:
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19:48 May 9, 2010
German to English translations [PRO]
Philosophy
German term or phrase: Wissensfigur
The essay is about the relationship/correlation of human beings and animals attempting to reverse their hierarchy.
The context is the following:
"Die Krone der Schöpfung scheint in dieser Blickwendung als das Defizitär der Figur des Tieres. Mit der Wissensfigur des Tieres wird die Frage nach dem Verhältnis von Tier und Mensch jedoch aus einem platten Biologismus gelöst und über seine Kasuistik hinaus systematisiert – seine Bühne ist nicht länger das Varieté und der Tierpark, seine Bühne ist die moderne Ordnung des Wissens selbst."
Is it possible to translate the term "Wissensfigur" with "figure of knowledge" or "knowledge-figure"? The problem is that the authors would like their essay 'PR-suitable'...
dobri
Local time: 14:15
cognitive figure
Explanation:
This might sound somewhat natural without resorting to a wholly free translation.
Selected response from:

Marcos Guntin
Local time: 09:15
Grading comment
Yes, thank you Marcos. I think "cognitive figure" in the sense of "concept" or "notion" meets the intention of the German term best.
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2topos
Johanna Timm, PhD
4 +1cognitive figure
Marcos Guntin
3knowing subject
Michél Dallaserra
3(cognition and) knowledge figurecasper
3cognitive being/creature/entity
David Hollywood
3object of knowledge
Michael Wetzel


  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
cognitive figure


Explanation:
This might sound somewhat natural without resorting to a wholly free translation.

Marcos Guntin
Local time: 09:15
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 15
Grading comment
Yes, thank you Marcos. I think "cognitive figure" in the sense of "concept" or "notion" meets the intention of the German term best.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Nicole Backhaus
1 day20 mins
  -> Thank you, Nicole
neutral  Michael Wetzel: What does "cognitive figure" mean?
1 day10 hrs
  -> "Figure" here means "notion", "idea", "concept", considered in their rhetorical function (in that regard "topos" is not a bad idea either). The specification "cognitive" stresses that it belongs to an epistemic framework (hence the ensuing "biologism").
neutral  Damian Harrison: With Michael, I just don't see the congnitive aspect in this. Wissensfigur is certainly closer to "notion / idea / concept"
3 days13 hrs
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
cognitive being/creature/entity


Explanation:
a few ideas ...

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Note added at 5 hrs (2010-05-10 01:00:44 GMT)
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or maybe "thinking" for "cognitive"

David Hollywood
Local time: 09:15
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
(cognition and) knowledge figure


Explanation:
In this sense then the image contains and controls ways of cognition
and knowledge figures, implies a historical index as the historical trace of knowledge, which generates itself largely from the respective specific kind of figurative thought.
The image then is always already a condensation where past and present impressions coalesce into a knowledge figure.
...
In the artwork Genesis we find a knowledge figure, a basic figure of anthropology which may be viewed, in Hans Blumenberg’s thought, as an “absolute metaphor”: the topos of aliveness.

www.ekac.org/knowledge_in_the_arts.pdf

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Note added at 10 hrs (2010-05-10 05:54:01 GMT)
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On second thoughts:

figure of cognition
http://shortify.com/ZA9

casper
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Jim Tucker: That link was not written by a native EN speaker; full of Germanisms ("Above the Petri dish we find the brackets of microscope lights", and the like)
1 hr
  -> Point taken. On second thoughts, I'm suggesting "figure of cognition". How do you feel about it?
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11 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
object of knowledge


Explanation:
It's definitely a technical term, so a literal translation will be of little use to the reader. Unfortunately I'm not in a library, so I don't have access to the kind of lexica that could give a solid answer here.
If Foucault is a good point of reference, then this is probably a very solid term, otherwise it may not be.
"Alongside the animal as an object of knowledge, the ..." Is this the right way to understand the sentence in the context? Otherwise the author may just be dropping big words without worrying about their actual meaning.

To check, search: Foucault + "object of knowledge"

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Note added at 11 Stunden (2010-05-10 07:34:47 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

"object of scientific inquiry"/"object of scientific analysis" is a less technical sounding solution that may suit your clients better

Example sentence(s):
  • Foucault uses the word to refer to the fact that it is not just the object of knowledge which is constructed but also the knower.

    Reference: http://www.michel-foucault.com/concepts/index.html
Michael Wetzel
Germany
Local time: 14:15
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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14 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
knowing subject


Explanation:
The animal as a knowing subject would be a valid solution in the given context, I think.

Certainly not "object" in whatever combination.

Michél Dallaserra
Germany
Local time: 14:15
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman, Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Damian Harrison: While animals are of course knowing subjects, I don't think that is what is meant here. Rather, Wissensfigur refers to literally a "figure of thinking" i.e. a specific conceptualisation of the animal as a way of exploring human / animal relations.
2 days23 hrs
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21 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
topos


Explanation:
Figur, here, is used in the sense of a topos/topic/theme

More on "Wissensfigur"

http://shortify.com/10275

More on topoi:
http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/Canons/Invention/TOPICS O...


Johanna Timm, PhD
Canada
Local time: 05:15
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 24

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Damian Harrison
2 days17 hrs
  -> thanks, Damian!
agree  Jim Tucker
3 days8 hrs
  -> Thanks, Jim :-)
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