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Full Idea
We are prone to talk about physical and abstract objects. It is hard to know how else to talk, because we are bound to adapt any alien pattern to our own in the very process of understanding or translating the alien sentences.
Gist of Idea
We can only see an alien language in terms of our own thought structures (e.g. physical/abstract)
Source
Willard Quine (Speaking of Objects [1960], pt.I,p.1)
Book Ref
Quine,Willard: 'Ontological Relativity and Other Essays' [Columbia 1969], p.1
| 5747 | "No entity without identity" - our ontology must contain items with settled identity conditions [Quine, by Melia] |
| 13387 | Our conceptual scheme becomes more powerful when we posit abstract objects [Quine] |
| 7925 | There is no proper identity concept for properties, and it is hard to distinguish one from two [Quine] |
| 8277 | I prefer 'no object without identity' to Quine's 'no entity without identity' [Lowe on Quine] |
| 1630 | We can only see an alien language in terms of our own thought structures (e.g. physical/abstract) [Quine] |
| 1631 | You could know the complete behavioural conditions for a foreign language, and still not know their beliefs [Quine] |
| 1632 | Translation of our remote past or language could be as problematic as alien languages [Quine] |