in a moral vacuum

Japanese translation: モラルの空白、道徳の喪失

10:24 Dec 21, 2018

English to Japanese translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - History / rocket development

English term or phrase: in a moral vacuum

I am currently translating a book about rockets written by a British author. I came across one sentence which I think doesn't make sense.
I was wondering if someone could give me a little clue?

It is part of a paragraph about V2 rocket during WWII and its legacy: "The legacy of the V2 includes the Redstone rocket, Saturn V and the early Saturn rockets. However, a darker legacy remains from the war- the V2 killed almost 7,300 people in attacks, a full 20,000 labourers during its construction. It was a shameful heritage for a brilliant machine, but technology rarely advances in a moral vacuum."

In my understanding, "in a moral vacuum" means "where a moral doesn't exist". So the last sentence means:
V2(=a brilliant machine) has a shameful legacy but technology rarely advances where a moral doesn't exist. But V2 actually
did advance in a moral vacuum(=killing lots of people in attacks and construction).
If this "rarely" is "often", I'd understand. But this sentence is very confusing to me. Will anyone please help?

Atsuko Saisho KudoZ activity Questions: 1 (none open) Answers: 1 Japan
Local time: 11:48

Japanese translation:モラルの空白、道徳の喪失

Explanation:
I agree 100% in your interpretation; the only possibility to undestand this fragment is that a complement exists: for example: "...a darker legacy ...It was shameful heritage...but technology rarely advances in a moral vacuum, as you can see in post-war, most of successful space projects derived from V2 were not war-oriented." This is an invented example, so maybe you can check the rest of the book and discover an answer for this contradictory fragment you posted.

Selected response from:

komazawa
Japan
Local time: 11:48

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Thank you for your comment. Yes, it could be as you suggest...
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モラルの空白、道徳の喪失

komazawa

Summary of reference entries provided

FYR

cinefil

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モラルの空白、道徳の喪失

komazawa
Japan
Local time: 11:48
Native speaker of:

Japanese
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Thank you for your comment. Yes, it could be as you suggest...

Reference comments

11 mins

Reference: FYR

Reference information:
https://www.linguee.com/english-japanese/translation/moral v...
https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/moral vacuum

cinefil
Japan
Native speaker of:

Japanese
PRO pts in category: 12

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in a moral vacuum

Japanese translation: モラルの空白、道徳の喪失

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in a moral vacuum

Japanese translation: モラルの空白、道徳の喪失

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