The philosophical claim to universality as heterolingual translation: thinking of the ‘translational’ method of philosophy with and beyond Hegel

In this essay, I propose to read Hegel's dialectic as a ‘regime of translation', according to the expression introduced by Naoki Sakai (1997, Translation and Subjectivity: On “Japan” and Cultural Nationalism. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press). This means conceiving of the philosophical method as a translation in which speculative conceptualisation is performed in a constitutively heterolingual manner. Doing philosophy relates to translation practice not only because it consists of transposing (transducere) experience into concepts, but also because it occurs in a translingual dimension – that is, through particular languages while bringing forth transcultural values. I examine how in Hegel's Science of Logic the semantic complexity of the term Gattung (genus) can be brought to light through translation. The dialectical method takes the form of a series of interlingual as well as intralingual translations through which the universality of the genus emerges. I suggest that this emergence of the universal through translation characterises the philosophical claim to universality and is transcultural in scope. In this sense, Hegel’s regime of translation, namely the dialectical method, contrasts with the currently dominant homolingual and symmetry-based regime and can serve as a valuable device for the philosophy of translation to think about transculturality as inclusive universalism.