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Single Idea 3495
[filed under theme 19. Language / F. Communication / 6. Interpreting Language / b. Indeterminate translation
]
Full Idea
Difference in local Backgrounds make translation from one language to another difficult; the commonality of deep Background makes it possible at all.
Gist of Idea
Shared Background makes translation possible, though variation makes it hard
Source
John Searle (The Rediscovery of the Mind [1992], Ch. 8.V)
Book Ref
Searle,John R.: 'The Rediscovery of the Mind' [MIT 1999], p.194
A Reaction
That is a very good observation about what is normally swept under the one umbrella of the 'principle of charity'. Quine exaggerated the local, and Davidson exaggerated the deep.
Related Idea
Idea 8869
The principle of charity attributes largely consistent logic and largely true beliefs to speakers [Davidson]
The
19 ideas
with the same theme
[full translation may be a logical impossibility]:
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6318
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The doctrine of indeterminacy of translation seems implied by the later Wittgenstein
[Wittgenstein, by Quine]
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18963
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Indeterminacy translating 'rabbit' depends on translating individuation terms
[Quine]
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1631
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You could know the complete behavioural conditions for a foreign language, and still not know their beliefs
[Quine]
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1632
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Translation of our remote past or language could be as problematic as alien languages
[Quine]
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3988
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Indeterminacy of translation also implies indeterminacy in interpreting people's mental states
[Dennett on Quine]
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6311
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The firmer the links between sentences and stimuli, the less translations can diverge
[Quine]
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6312
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We can never precisely pin down how to translate the native word 'Gavagai'
[Quine]
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6313
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Stimulus synonymy of 'Gavagai' and 'Rabbit' does not even guarantee they are coextensive
[Quine]
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6317
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Dispositions to speech behaviour, and actual speech, are never enough to fix any one translation
[Quine]
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6270
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The correct translation is the one that explains the speaker's behaviour
[Putnam]
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6283
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Language maps the world in many ways (because it maps onto other languages in many ways)
[Putnam]
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14206
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There are infinitely many interpretations of a sentence which can all seem to be 'correct'
[Putnam]
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6399
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Criteria of translation give us the identity of conceptual schemes
[Davidson]
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6179
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Should we assume translation to define truth, or the other way around?
[Blackburn on Davidson]
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3495
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Shared Background makes translation possible, though variation makes it hard
[Searle]
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3083
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Many predicates totally resist translation, so a universal underlying structure to languages is unlikely
[Harman]
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3698
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Indeterminacy of translation is actually indeterminacy of meaning and belief
[Bonjour]
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2763
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There is an indeterminacy in juggling apparent meanings against probable beliefs
[Dancy,J]
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6341
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Right translation is a mapping of languages which preserves basic patterns of usage
[Horwich]
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