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    Carmelics

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

    It is not the case that Quine's thesis of the indeterminacy of translation establishes that no unique proposition is determined by a mapping between expression-sequences without a prior translation manual fixing reference.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Indeterminacy confuses epistemological limits with metaphysical conclusions; ignorance about uniqueness doesn't prove uniqueness doesn't obtain.
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    • 2.Successful inter-linguistic communication and translation practice demonstrate determinate reference works despite Quine's theoretical worries.
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    • 3.The argument assumes radical holism about meaning; more modest compositional theories permit determinate reference without complete translation manuals.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Behavioral evidence underdetermines mental content: identical physical behavior permits multiple incompatible interpretations of referential intent.
      ?

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    • 2.Translation manuals are conventional tools reflecting choice among empirically equivalent alternatives, not discoveries of pre-existing facts.
      ?

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    • 3.Without independent access to speakers' internal states, translation must remain parasitic on interpretive frameworks we construct, not uncover.
      ?

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