Publications

Publication details [#14394]

Gaudet, Eve, ed. 2006. Quine on meaning: the indeterminacy of translation (Continuum Studies in American Philosophy). London: Continuum. 160 pp.
Publication type
Edited volume
Publication language
English
Person as a subject
Main ISBN
0826487203
Edition info
ISBN-13: 9780826487209

Abstract

Willard Van Orman Quine was an analytic philosopher of the second half of the twentieth century. Born in 1908, he held the Edgar Pierce Chair of Philosophy at Harvard University from 1956 to 2000. He made highly important contributions to such areas as mathematical logic, set theory, the philosophy of language, and the philosophy of logic. His best known works include From a Logical Point of View, Ontological Relativity and Other Essays, and his most influential Word and Object. One of Quine's central doctrines is the 'indeterminacy of translation' - the assertion that there is no objective answer to the question of what someone means by any given sentence. This view was first put forward in Word and Object and was shocking enough to draw criticisms from other leading philosophers like Noam Chomsky and Richard Rorty. The author of this book argues that these controversies stem partly from Quine's ambiguities and changes of mind, and partly from his readers' misunderstandings. Gaudet dissipates the confusion by examining afresh Quine's whole concept of 'a fact of the matter', and evaluating the contributions to the debate by Chomsky, Rorty, Friedman, Gibson and Follesdal in the light of her new interpretation.
Source : Based on publisher information