In line with Douglas Robinson’s definition of translation as a strange loop, I will examine the paradoxical circularity of translation through the lens of the philosophical encyclopaedia. My aim is to highlight the link between an encyclopaedic conception of knowledge and the logic of translation. This hypothesis will be discussed by analysing Hegel’s idea of the philosophical encyclopaedia as a «circle of circles» from the more specific perspective of the kind of epistemological as well as stylistic competence required to the philosopher. Such a competence enables us to think the universality of an encyclopaedic model of knowledge as universality in translation.
Keywords: Hegel, Universality in Translation, Encyclopaedia, Strange Loops, Translational Competence.