instances

English translation: structures/parts

11:48 Oct 21, 2014
French to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Philosophy
French term or phrase: instances
From an academic text on Spinoza's philosophy:

L’homme semble donc constitué par deux ***instances***, l’appétit, d’une part, la raison, d’autre part, dont l’unité est problématique. Il est soumis à deux systèmes de lois naturelles : les lois naturelles de l’appétit, les lois naturelles de la raison, et il voit alterner et triompher l’un ou l’autre de ces systèmes, à proportion de son ignorance ou de son éducation.
tatyana000
Local time: 01:12
English translation:structures/parts
Explanation:
rather like the use in psychoanalysis "une instance est une entité psychique qui regroupe des forces similaires ou fait appel à un principe particulier"
Selected response from:

Alison Kelly
Ireland
Local time: 00:12
Grading comment
Thank you!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +3structures/parts
Alison Kelly
3 +2concerns
Verginia Ophof
3 +1powers
Jane Phillips
4injunctions
Francis Marche
3Appeal/temptation
Chakib Roula
3demands
SilvijaG
3solicitations
kashew
3halves
nweatherdon


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


27 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Appeal/temptation


Explanation:
Une suggestion


    Reference: http://dictionary.reverso.net/french-definition/instance
    Reference: http://dictionary.reverso.net/french-definition/instance
Chakib Roula
Algeria
Local time: 01:12
Native speaker of: Native in ArabicArabic, Native in FrenchFrench
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28 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
powers


Explanation:
Using instances in the sense of tribunal or that which governs.

As here
Some commentators take these problems with Spinoza's social contract to be insurmountable, and for this reason they regard him as coming to his senses when be abandons the contract in the TP (Wernham 1958, 25–27). Others have tried to reinterpret the contract in a way that is makes it consistent with his naturalism. For instance, Barbone and Rice distinguish between two concepts that have been rendered in English as “power.” On the one hand there is potentia, which is the power that is essential to the individual (Barbone and Rice 2000, 17). <i/>
taken from
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/spinoza-political/

Jane Phillips
France
Local time: 01:12
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  writeaway: the trouble here is that Spinoza wrote in Italian, so as far as his terms are concerned, this is a translation of a translation
6 mins

neutral  Alison Kelly: "the Latin terms used by Spinoza, potestas and potentia, have distinct correlates in most European languages ([...] pouvoir and puissance in French, [...]), English provides only a single term, power" http://www.generation-online.org/p/fpnegri17.htm
1 hr

neutral  Elizabeth Slaney: How would you translate "constitué par"?
1 hr
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34 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
demands


Explanation:
*

SilvijaG
United States
Local time: 20:12
Native speaker of: Native in SerbianSerbian, Native in Serbo-CroatSerbo-Croat
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36 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
concerns


Explanation:
suggestion

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 47 mins (2014-10-21 12:35:12 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

drives/urges

Verginia Ophof
Belize
Local time: 18:12
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jean-Claude Gouin: The two concerns (drives and urges) are food and reason ...
1 hr
  -> Thank you 1045 !!

agree  SilvijaG: Yes! Drives/urges, that should be your answer, Verginia!
4 hrs
  -> Thank you Silvija !!
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53 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
injunctions


Explanation:
Confirmed by E. Kant himself in "The Metaphysics of Ethics" : Reason says that I ought not to lie, be the advantages of falsehood ever so great. Lying is mean, and makes man
unworthy to be happy. Here is an unconditionate ***injunction of reason*** to be obeyed, in the face of which all appetite and inclination must be silent.

https://archive.org/stream/metaphysicofeth00kant/metaphysico...




Francis Marche
France
Local time: 01:12
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 32
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +3
structures/parts


Explanation:
rather like the use in psychoanalysis "une instance est une entité psychique qui regroupe des forces similaires ou fait appel à un principe particulier"


    Reference: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instance#Psychologie
Alison Kelly
Ireland
Local time: 00:12
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thank you!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Elizabeth Slaney: Yes, I like "parts". As parts of the psychic apparatus.
49 mins
  -> Thanks!

agree  writeaway: if it's not based on Spinoza's original Italian, at least it's based on something concrete
1 hr
  -> : )

agree  John Holland: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?&q=spinoza "parts of the s... FWIW, Spinoza wrote in Latin. He was born and lived in Amsterdam and his family was Portuguese. http://www.iep.utm.edu/spinoza/
1 day 17 hrs
  -> Thanks for the link!

neutral  SilvijaG: @John: Thank you, John. I was waiting if someone is going to say something about Latin :)
2 days 5 hrs
  -> : )
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6 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
solicitations


Explanation:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/solicitation
a few other possibilities in there too.

kashew
France
Local time: 01:12
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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17 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
halves


Explanation:
Seems to work well with the difficulty of "unity" of the two parts later on in the sentence. But otherwise I think "parts" is probably OK.

nweatherdon
Canada
Native speaker of: English
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