On Quine’s reasons for holophrastic indeterminacy of translation

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Rogério Passos Severo
Guilherme Gräf Schüler

Abstract

A common assumption about Quine’s indeterminacy of holophrastic translation is that his main reason for it was his thesis of underdetermination of theories by observations. Quine in fact made that argument. Yet, his mature formulation of the thesis of underdetermination rendered that argument invalid, and he subsequently dropped it. This paper explains that shift in Quine’s thought and indicates his mature reasons for indeterminacy of holophrastic translation.

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Author Biographies

Rogério Passos Severo, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)

Professor adjunto no Dept. de Filosofia da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. PhD em filosofia pela University of Illinois at Chicago. Atua nas áreas de filosofia da ciência, teoria do conhecimento, filosofia da linguagem, metafísica e filosofia da religião.

Guilherme Gräf Schüler, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)

Possui graduação em Filosofia pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (2017-2021). Tem experiência na área de Filosofia, com ênfase em Filosofia da Ciência e Epistemologia Contemporânea. É graduando em Ciência da Computação pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul 

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