The purpose of this paper is to examine the specificity of the translation of texts dealing with abstract concepts, whether these texts come from social or human sciences or from philosophy. Indeed, besides common issues shared with literary translation, working on concepts in such texts requires from the translator particular attention and commitment. The investigations carried out by the translator to make his choices are often relegated behind the scientific scenes and support his own auctorial function. The specificity of this practice is analysed here in the light of two theoretical propositions: on the one hand, the distinction between thematic and operatory concepts, submitted by Eugen Fink. On the other, the distinction between shade-uncertainty and shift-uncertainty which comes from the philosophy of randomness. Bringing these category resources together allows all at once to clearly document this specific translational practice and to highlight some hypothesis about the task of the translator and his auctorial responsibility, in this particular translation field. The different argumentative stages of this paper are based on samples borrowed from some translation experiences (including translations of George Herbert Mead, Aristotle, The Qur’an and Paul Ricoeur).