in some formulations

English translation: in some interpretations

18:32 Feb 8, 2015
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Social Sciences - Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc.
English term or phrase: in some formulations
Hello. I'm a EN>FR translator and hope it's ok for me to post here, as my problem at this stage is not so much to find a translation, but rather to understand.

I was hoping native English speakers might be able to help me grasp the meaning of "in some formulations" in the following sentence (which comes from an article about a book on the relationships between social sciences and imperialism/colonialism):

In France, the Durkheimian school found in the empire a diverse landscape on which to develop comparative analyses, **in some formulations** turning civilization from a hierarchical into a pluralistic notion, but without necessarily questioning the militaristic and administrative structures that created the empire in the first place.

Indeed, Durkheim was among the first ones to talk about civilizations in the plural, however this "in some formulations" remains quite mysterious.

Thank you very much.
Antoine Heudre
France
Local time: 11:11
Selected answer:in some interpretations
Explanation:
Any school of thought is open to interpretations which give greater or lesser emphasis to different aspects of the theory, or even different ways of expressing them. Each interpretation can be called a "formulation" of the school of thought.
Selected response from:

Martin Riordan
Brazil
Local time: 07:11
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +3in some interpretations
Martin Riordan
4 +2in some versions (of Durkheimian thought)
Charles Davis
4in some ways
José J. Martínez
3in some formulations / expressions
DLyons


  

Answers


7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
in some ways


Explanation:
One can really understand but the author chose those words...

José J. Martínez
United States
Local time: 03:11
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in SpanishSpanish
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you José.

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54 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
in some interpretations


Explanation:
Any school of thought is open to interpretations which give greater or lesser emphasis to different aspects of the theory, or even different ways of expressing them. Each interpretation can be called a "formulation" of the school of thought.

Martin Riordan
Brazil
Local time: 07:11
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you Martin. Very helpful!


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Tina Vonhof (X): I'll agree with you and with Charles because both of you have a point and both points will be helpful to the asker..
3 hrs
  -> Thanks, Tina. Yes, the important thing is to help the asker understand the term.

agree  Antonio Tomás Lessa do Amaral
6 days
  -> Thanks, Tomás.

agree  Luciane Shanahan
6 days
  -> Thanks, Luciane!
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
in some versions (of Durkheimian thought)


Explanation:
Formulations here really means works or writings that expound or express Durkheimian thought, formulating it (that is, expressing or expounding it) in different ways. Different formulations of a body of philosophical thought are different ways of expressing essentially the same set of ideas, giving more or less emphasis to some of them, perhaps omitting some or adding others. Although they embody different interpretations of that body of thought, they are not, properly speaking, interpretations themselves, but rather sets of arguments that draw on Durkheimian ideas. So I think "versions" might be the nearest synonym.

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 11:11
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 24

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Tina Vonhof (X): See my comment above.
56 mins
  -> Thanks, Tina :)

agree  B D Finch: Your explanation is good, but the best way of expressing it remains: "in some formulations".
15 hrs
  -> Thanks! I quite agree. I spent several minutes trying to come up with an adequate synonym but I don't think there is one.
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1 day 21 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
in some formulations / expressions


Explanation:
I think "formulation" is actually the appropriate term - but "expression" seems to me to be closer than the various suggestions.

Durkheim himself had various formulations of his work

https://books.google.ie/books?id=m7dLb93jSXQC&pg=PA42

https://books.google.ie/books?id=CTPh1DI71R0C&pg=PA119

DLyons
Ireland
Local time: 10:11
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4
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