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    Carmelics

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    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Quine's indeterminacy of reference thesis demonstrates that no term—observational or theoretical—has a uniquely determinate referent independent of translation schemes.

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    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Indeterminacy applies only to radical translation; native speakers demonstrably share determinate references within their language.
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    • 2.Causal-historical theories of reference ground determinate content in concrete objects, not just translation schemes.
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    • 3.If reference were truly indeterminate, Quine couldn't meaningfully claim his own thesis has determinate content.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Translation manuals for the same language can be incompatible yet equally consistent with all possible behavioral evidence.
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    • 2.Referential content depends on the entire web of beliefs, not isolated terms, making reference underdetermined by observation alone.
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    • 3.No empirical fact about speaker behavior can distinguish between competing assignments of meanings to words.
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