Quine i Winch wobec tezy o wielu różnych racjonalnościach

Abstrakt

Quine and Winch before thesis about many different rationalities

The present paper aims at the reconstruction of one of The Principle of Charity’s formulations, i.e. that of which Willard V.O. Quine is an author, and investigation of the relation in which his conception of radical translation stands to the thesis of many different rationalities in that form as it has been given to this thesis by Peter Winch.
Winch claims that every community has its own standards of rationality, and what is more, that it is possible to recognize them. Quine, on the other hand, proposing conduction of the thought experiment that concerns the, so-called, “radical translation” claims that it is impossible to carry out translation of foreign language without the help of translator’s own categories and standards, that is, it is impossible to carry out such translation without assuming the, so-called, principle of charity. That does not mean, however, that it is precisely as the principle states. Therefore it turns out that Quine’s opposition to Winch concerns mainly methodological issues.