Radical interpretation
Encyclopedia
Radical interpretation is interpretation of a speaker, including attributing beliefs and desires to them and meanings to their words, from scratch—that is, without relying on translators, dictionaries, or specific prior knowledge of their mental states. The term was introduced by American philosopher Donald Davidson
(1973) and is meant to suggest important similarity to W. V. O. Quine's term radical translation
, which occurs in his work on the indeterminacy of translation
. Radical translation
is translation of a speaker's language, without prior knowledge, by observing the speaker's use of the language in context.
Even more so than radical translation did for Quine, radical interpretation plays an important role in Davidson's work, but the exact nature of this role is up for debate. Some see Davidson as using radical interpretation directly in his arguments against conceptual relativism and the possibility of massive error—-of most of our beliefs being false. But Davidson seems to explicitly reject this reading in "Radical Interpretation Interpreted".
There is also a more narrow and technical version of radical interpretation used by Davidson: given the speaker's attitudes of holding particular sentences true in particular circumstances, the speaker's hold-true attitudes, the radical interpreter is to infer a theory of meaning, a truth theory meeting a modified version of Alfred Tarski
's Convention T, for the speaker's idiolect
. Ernest Lepore
and Kirk Ludwig characterize this as inference from sentences of the form:
to corresponding T-sentences of the form
where s is a sentence is the idiolect of the speaker S, t is a time, and p and q are filled in with sentences in the metalanguage
.
Donald Davidson (philosopher)
Donald Herbert Davidson was an American philosopher born in Springfield, Massachusetts, who served as Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley from 1981 to 2003 after having also held teaching appointments at Stanford University, Rockefeller University, Princeton...
(1973) and is meant to suggest important similarity to W. V. O. Quine's term radical translation
Radical translation
Radical translation is a term invented by American philosopher W. V. O. Quine to describe the situation in which a linguist is attempting to translate a completely unknown language, which is unrelated to his own, and is therefore forced to rely solely on the observed behavior of its speakers in...
, which occurs in his work on the indeterminacy of translation
Indeterminacy of translation
The indeterminacy of translation is a thesis propounded by 20th century analytic philosopher W. V. Quine. The classic statement of this thesis can be found in his 1960 book Word and Object, which gathered together and refined much of Quine's previous work on subjects other than formal logic and set...
. Radical translation
is translation of a speaker's language, without prior knowledge, by observing the speaker's use of the language in context.
Even more so than radical translation did for Quine, radical interpretation plays an important role in Davidson's work, but the exact nature of this role is up for debate. Some see Davidson as using radical interpretation directly in his arguments against conceptual relativism and the possibility of massive error—-of most of our beliefs being false. But Davidson seems to explicitly reject this reading in "Radical Interpretation Interpreted".
There is also a more narrow and technical version of radical interpretation used by Davidson: given the speaker's attitudes of holding particular sentences true in particular circumstances, the speaker's hold-true attitudes, the radical interpreter is to infer a theory of meaning, a truth theory meeting a modified version of Alfred Tarski
Alfred Tarski
Alfred Tarski was a Polish logician and mathematician. Educated at the University of Warsaw and a member of the Lwow-Warsaw School of Logic and the Warsaw School of Mathematics and philosophy, he emigrated to the USA in 1939, and taught and carried out research in mathematics at the University of...
's Convention T, for the speaker's idiolect
Idiolect
In linguistics, an idiolect is a variety of a language unique to an individual. It is manifested by patterns of vocabulary or idiom selection , grammar, or pronunciations that are unique to the individual. Every individual's language production is in some sense unique...
. Ernest Lepore
Ernest Lepore
Ernest Lepore is an American philosopher and cognitive scientist. He is currently Acting Director of the Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science, and a professor at Rutgers University...
and Kirk Ludwig characterize this as inference from sentences of the form:
- Ceteris paribus, S holds true s at t if and only if p.
to corresponding T-sentences of the form
- s is true (S, t) if and only if q
where s is a sentence is the idiolect of the speaker S, t is a time, and p and q are filled in with sentences in the metalanguage
Metalanguage
Broadly, any metalanguage is language or symbols used when language itself is being discussed or examined. In logic and linguistics, a metalanguage is a language used to make statements about statements in another language...
.
See also
- Indeterminacy of translationIndeterminacy of translationThe indeterminacy of translation is a thesis propounded by 20th century analytic philosopher W. V. Quine. The classic statement of this thesis can be found in his 1960 book Word and Object, which gathered together and refined much of Quine's previous work on subjects other than formal logic and set...
- Meaning (linguistics)Meaning (linguistics)In linguistics, meaning is what is expressed by the writer or speaker, and what is conveyed to the reader or listener, provided that they talk about the same thing . In other words if the object and the name of the object and the concepts in their head are the same...
- Philosophy of languagePhilosophy of languagePhilosophy of language is the reasoned inquiry into the nature, origins, and usage of language. As a topic, the philosophy of language for analytic philosophers is concerned with four central problems: the nature of meaning, language use, language cognition, and the relationship between language...
- Radical translationRadical translationRadical translation is a term invented by American philosopher W. V. O. Quine to describe the situation in which a linguist is attempting to translate a completely unknown language, which is unrelated to his own, and is therefore forced to rely solely on the observed behavior of its speakers in...