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Single Idea 3988

[from 'Word and Object' by Willard Quine, in 19. Language / F. Communication / 6. Interpreting Language / b. Indeterminate translation ]

Full Idea

Quine's thesis of the indeterminacy of radical translation carries all the way in, as the thesis of the indeterminacy of radical interpretation of mental states and processes.

Clarification

Quine proposed that perfect translation of languages was logically impossible

Gist of Idea

Indeterminacy of translation also implies indeterminacy in interpreting people's mental states

Source

comment on Willard Quine (Word and Object [1960]) by Daniel C. Dennett - Daniel Dennett on himself p.239

Book Reference

'A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind', ed/tr. Guttenplan,Samuel [Blackwell 1995], p.239


A Reaction

Strong scepticism seems wrong here. Davidson's account of charity in interpretation, and the role of truth, seems closer.