Single Idea 4706

[catalogued under 19. Language / F. Communication / 6. Interpreting Language / a. Translation]

Full Idea

In his earlier work, Quine defended the view that no belief (including logic) is in principle unrevisable, but in his later work (1970) he took the conservative view that we would always impute mistranslation rather than deviancy.

Gist of Idea

Early Quine says all beliefs could be otherwise, but later he said we would assume mistranslation

Source

Paul O'Grady (Relativism [2002], Ch.2)

Book Reference

O'Grady,Paul: 'Relativism' [Acumen 2002], p.51


A Reaction

I take it he was influenced by Davidson's 'principle of charity'. He says that if someone asserts 'p and not-p', we would assume a misunderstanding of 'and' or 'not'.