Gaudet dissipates the confusion by examining afresh quines whole concept of a fact of the matter, and evaluating the contributions to the debate by chomsky, rorty, friedman, gibson and follesdal in the light of her new interpretation. What is meant by quines interdeterminacy of translation. Still, the first four chapters contain various helpful exegetical or reconstructive things, including. There is no direct or infallible foundation of meaning for an ideal language to make transparent. For quine, the indeterminacy of translation has considerable ontological consequences, construed as leading to a sceptical conclusion regarding the existence of fine. Quines views on indeterminacy of translation led to extended debate over carnaps analyticsynthetic distinction, and to inwagens coining of the word metaontology to designate the resulting and continuing debate about the purpose and importance of ontology itself. He is perhaps best known for his arguments against logical empiricism in particular, against its use of the analyticsynthetic distinction. Yet there has been little discussion of how exactly quine understands this idea. Request pdf indeterminacy of translation peter hylton. Socrates uses the egyptian myth of thoths creation of writing to illustrate his point. What makes quine distinctive is not his starting point, but where he ends up.
Willard van orman quine 19082000 worked in theoretical philosophy and in logic. And this toning down reflects, i think, a failure to see that there are two radically different sorts of philosophical genius. I begin with quines discussion of the indeterminacy of translation. In this essay, i will show that the indeterminacy of translation does indeed apply to the translation of the truthfunctional connectives. Robert sinclair, quine on the indeterminacy of translation. David bourget western ontario david chalmers anu, nyu area editors. At any rate, that is what motivates his most important and notorious theses, concerning ontological relativity, indeterminacy of translation, and analyticity. Indeterminacy of translation the indeterminacy of translation of sentences. There is no distinctively philosophical standpoint outside this system. This is the first book devoted to a defence of quines indeterminacy of translation doctrine. Nevertheless, the main outlines of a received reading have been agreed upon, and it is possible to specify three fixed theses which together constitute the received reading of. Suppose that no translation manual could assign radically different meanings to.
In his view, to understand someone else is to interpret themthat is, to. Now, according to quines physicalism as characterized in section 1. Although i was very sympathetic to the substance of what. One obvious response is that this begs the question. Indeterminacy of translation project gutenberg self. It is closely related to his thesis of ontological relativity. Quine s whole concept of a fact of the matter, and evaluating the contributions to the debate by chomsky, rorty, friedman, gibson and follesdal in the light of her new interpretation. The indeterminacy of translation is a thesis propounded by 20thcentury american. Quines thesis of the indeterminacy of translation is the theory which launched a thousand doctorates. Quine s work on indeterminacy of translation, stemming from the basic forms of indeterminacy, is widely discussed in modern analytic philosophy. Indeterminacy of translationtheory and practice dorit. Quine, speaking of objects and translation and meaning from word and object. Presentism and the indeterminacy of translation sciencedirect.
Interdeterminacy of translation means that the translation you come up with depends on the process of translation, as well as the intended underlying semantics of the speaker. Revisiting quines real ground volume 85 issue 1 sophie r. Quines philosophy is the continuation of british empiricism by other means. Can theoretical underdetermination support the indeterminacy. A number of possible relationships are introduced, and examples of scholarly exploration of each kind of relationship are presented. A sentence may be correctly translated in multiple ways with different meanings. On how to avoid the indeterminacy of translation philarchive. In a paper published 25 years before this book, hylton argued that quines qualms about the analyticsynthetic distinction should be set apart from his indeterminacy of translation arguments. Davidsons suggested reading of quines indeterminacy arguments seems to. Indeterminacy of translation and analyticity, the southern. Can theoretical underdetermination support the indeterminacy of translation. Quines professional published and unpublished essays. Philosophy of language philosophy of language ordinary language philosophy. The irt is a thesis about relationships among languages in which translation is involved.
As patricia smith churchland notes in her foreword to this new edition, with word and object quine challenged the tradition of conceptual analysis. That is, the translation result and translation process determine eac. Indeterminacy of translation and the problem of explicating meaning. Bolton in wvord and object professor quine formulated his principle of indeterminacy of translation as follows. This proposition has had a broad and farreaching influence in philosophical and translation studies, and has made vital contributions to the philosophical study. Philosophical logic, and the southern journal of philosophy. Renewal re037520 covering new matter in the 1951 edition only. Plato writes of a fictionalized conversation between socrates and a student, in which socrates tries to convince the student that writing is inferior to speech.
This article will consider the kinds of relationship that may obtain between linguistics and translation studies and what it may mean to take a linguistic approach to translation studies. It is very tempting, of course, to apply a little reflexivity and deny that there is any determinate thesis of indeterminacy of translation. If this quotation leaves a lingering doubt as to whether quine would really call himself a verificationist, the following quotation should erase all doubt. On how to avoid the indeterminacy of translation deepdyve. This claim, new at the time, is restated in the book. Particularly because he avowed pragmatism in 1953, and because he is linked to john dewey by his defence of naturalism, some people are. Jun 12, 2015 quine usually refers to the indeterminacy of reference as the inscrutability of reference. The article indeterminacy of translation includes a section analyticsynthetic distinction that discusses quines critique of carnaps use of this distinction.
Quines whole concept of a fact of the matter, and evaluating the contributions to the debate by chomsky, rorty, friedman, gibson and follesdal in the light of her new interpretation. In acquiring it we have to depend entirely on intersubjectively available cues as to what to say and when. Parts of the sentence may change in what they reference, but they will nonetheless maintain the meaning of the sentence as a whole. Quine on translation and meaning a consideration of the. Willard van orman quine begins this influential work by declaring, language is a social art. Indeterminacy of translationone can never perfectly translate a word or phraseinscrutability of reference.
Graduate association of students in philosophy at the university of kansas. Quine s thesis of the indeterminacy of translation is the theory which launched a thousand doctorates. During the 1970s it sometimes seemed to be as firmly entrenched a dogma among north american philosophers as the existence of god was among medieval theologians. Quine peter hylton the philosophical quarterly oxford. This paper examines quines web of belief metaphor and its role in his various responses to conventionalism. Distinguishing between two versions of conventionalism, one based on the underdetermination of theory, the other associated with a linguistic account of necessary truth, i show how quine plays the two versions of conventionalism against each other. Indeterminacy of translation and analyticity indeterminacy of translation and analyticity harris, james f.
Indeterminacy of translation and analyticity harris, james f. The indeterminacy of translation is a thesis propounded by 20thcentury american analytic philosopher w. World heritage encyclopedia, the aggregation of the largest online encyclopedias available, and the most definitive collection ever assembled. Wittgensteins later philosophy represents a complete repudiation of the notion of an ideal language. Indeterminacy of translation a companion to the philosophy of. Brahm university of nebraska in word and object, quine sets forth and defends the thesis of the indeterminacy of translation. Kirk on quines reasons for indeterminacy of translation. In this introductory section i shall make a brief uncritical presentation of the thesis for. Quine says in pursuit of truth that the meaning of a sentence of one language is what it shares in its translations with. In practical philosophyethics and political philosophyhis contributions are negligible.
Quine on translation and meaning a consideration of the indeterminacy thesis. Quines arguments for indeterminacy belong firmly to the tradition of logical empiricism. Indeterminacy was discussed in one of jacques derridas early works platos pharmacy 1969, a reading of platos phaedrus and phaedo. Quines indeterminacy of translation thesis semantic scholar. More on quines reasons for indeterminacy of translation.
Callaway, university of mainz this is a short, generally clearly written book on a difficult, complex and much debated topic in analytic philosophy, and it is therefore deserving of some attention. Willard van orman quine stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. The classic statement of this thesis can be found in his 1960 book word and object, which gathered together and refined much of quine s previous work on subjects other than formal logic and set theory. A dilemma for davidson article pdf available in dialectica 721.
In thinking about the world, we must begin where we are. The quinean translation manual that takes the native to mean undetached. However, as i argue in the final section, such a thoroughgoing eliminativism would threaten the cogency of the reasoning which originally led quine to the indeterminacy thesis. Quines arguments for the indeterminacy of translation quine famously argued. Meaning, reference, and knowledge, by edward becker. It is very tempting, of course, to apply a little reflexivity and deny that there is. Sep 01, 2005 quinea s thesis of the indeterminacy of translation has puzzled the philosophical community for several decades. Indeterminacy of translation and the problem of explicating.
Presentism and the indeterminacy of translation 323 totality of speech dispositions that quine argues that we should abandon the notion of meaning altogether. In 1960 quine put forward the famous proposition of indeterminacy of translation on the basis of naturalistic language concept, behaviorism theory of meaning and semantic holism. On how to avoid the indeterminacy of translation on how to avoid the indeterminacy of translation raatikainen, panu 20050901 00. The idea of there being no fact of the matter nfm features centrally in quines indeterminacy theses. His major writings include two dogmas of empiricism 1951, which attacked the distinction between analytic and synthetic propositions and advocated a form of semantic holism, and word and object 1960, which further developed these positions and introduced quine s famous indeterminacy of translation thesis, advocating a behaviorist theory. The indeterminacy of translation, continuum, 2006, 145pp. Quines argument for the indeterminacy of translation seems open to two parity objections. Jul 07, 2019 this is a prime specimen of naturalized epistemology, for it is a finding of eipstemologia science itself, however fallible, that our information about the world comes only through the impact of our sensory receptors. It can appear to be such only because philosophical investigation. The enormously controversial theses of the indeterminacy of translation and ontological relativity associated with quine s name were trivialized and made unrecognizable in the process. Discussion of the two topics is spaced four chapters apart chs 3 and 8. Conceivably, adopting a different notion of what might count to distinguish translation manuals aside from semantic incompatibility from the point of view of the translator would. Quines indeterminacy thesis 275 radical translation when we use words or language as a social instrument to respond to the world, it is important to examine what status meaning takes in such a process.
It is unquestionably among the best known and most disputed theses in contemporary philosophy. Humphries indeterminacy of translation and theory, in the same issue, pp. While this refers mainly to translation between natural languages, it can also refer to individuals using the same language trying to understand one anothers full meaning. This proposition has had a broad and farreaching influence in philosophical and translation studies, and has made vital contributions to the philosophical study of translation. Indeterminacy of translationtheory and practice jstor.
Pdf indeterminacy of translation alex miller academia. Translation by quine of part of a draft of philosophy of logic 1970. In section 1, i shall provide a pretheoretic sketch of the actual practice of. Philosophy of language ordinary language philosophy. The indeterminacy of translation bibliography philpapers. Index termsquine, indeterminacy of translation, indeterminacy of meaning. Spanish pdf article in xml format article references how to cite this article automatic translation send this article by email. Davidsons suggested reading of quines indeterminacy arguments seems to be intended to block any such sceptical consequences. It leads to one of quines most famous, and most controversial, doctrines, the indeterminacy of translation.
Quinea s classical argument for the indeterminacy thesis, in his seminal work word and object, has even been described by putnam as a what may well be the most fascinating and the most. Spanish pdf article in xml format article epsitemologia how to cite this article automatic translation send this article by email. The best way to understand quines thesis of the indeterminacy of translation is via the naturalistic empiricism that motivates it. We use cookies to offer you a better experience, personalize content, tailor advertising, provide social media features, and better understand the use of our services. In acquiring it we have to depend entirely on online download word and object willard van orman quine word and object willard van orman quine one day, you will discover a new adventure and knowledge by spending quine on meaning download quine on meaning or read. And this toning down reflects, i think, a failure to see that there are.
Quine on meaning and translation1 philosophy cambridge core. Quines contention that translation is indeterminate has been among the most widely discussed and controversial theses in. Omission of carnaps statement of his position makes the treatment onesided and might be a violation of wp. Quines indeterminacy of translation thesis xiang xu college of foreign language, qingdao university of science and technology, qingdao 266061, china email. Willard van orman quine wikisource, the free online library. Quinean indeterminacy requires becoming a true eliminativist regarding ordinary translation practices. The first one is a natural misunderstanding due to chomsky quines empirical assumptions in davidson and hintikka, eds. For quine, the indeterminacy of translation has considerable ontological consequences, construed as leading to a sceptical conclusion regarding the existence of finegrained meaning facts. What does quines thesis of indeterminacy of translation really say. June 25, 1908 december 25, 2000 was an american philosopher and logician in the analytic tradition, recognized as one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century.
This is the first book devoted to a defence of quine s indeterminacy of translation doctrine. Linguistic behaviour is a natural phenomenon to be understood by the methods that we apply to other natural phenomena like stars, rivers and animals. Quines thesis of the indeterminacy of translation has puzzled the philosophical community. There exists a multiplicity of translations of any sentence from one language into another, each of. In this paper i identify, develop and then critically evaluate quines conception of nfm. Nothing can be achieved by the attempt to construct one, he believed. Quine s contention that translation is indeterminate has been among the most widely discussed and controversial theses in modern analytical philosophy. The enormously controversial theses of the indeterminacy of translation and ontological relativity associated with quines name were trivialized and made unrecognizable in the process. Though linguistics is of course a part of the theory of nature, the indeterminacy of translation is not just inherited as a special case of. Davidsons suggested reading of quine s indeterminacy arguments seems to be intended to block any such sceptical consequences.
398 706 233 1621 1382 1225 1533 1307 305 305 608 931 610 810 750 148 1340 90 348 298 374 125 486 1453 1298 1379 712 1324 1343 901 955 1038 1189 1410 1131 690 542 1078 191 444 1124