Skopos Theory as an Extension of Rhetoric

Isabelle Collombat
2017 Poroi  
Although rhetoric and, in particular, one of its branches, metaphorology, seem at this point to have been increasingly appropriated by various fields of study, such as semantics, semiotics, philosophy, communications, or even psychology (Charbonnel and Kleiber, 1999), there is nevertheless an implicit recognition of its contribution to numerous disciplines. In fact, as concerns many of these fields of study, it can rightly lay claim to being a foundational discipline. This essay, which pertains
more » ... to translation studies, presents a reflection aiming at defining intersections between the areas covered respectively by rhetoric and by skopos theory, which, in the field of translation studies, is one of the most frequently used theoretical frameworks that structures practice, and therefore teaching. The term of skopos has been originally used by Aristotle to refer to the aim of actions, as opposed to telos, which refers to their end. More precisely, as Eikeland states, "a skopos is conscious and intended, and may be set arbitrarily as an aim (. . .). A telos, or end, may be either subconscious or conscious" (Eikeland, 2008, 130).
doi:10.13008/2151-2957.1236 fatcat:5x7appnvibc63pq2twwmqug65q