Translation and Belief Ascription: Fundamental Barriers
Todd Edwin Jones · 2020
In this chapter, the author attempts to systematically explain the fundamental reasons why translation is such a difficult endeavor. The author argues that the root causes of the difficulties with translation have to do with problems intrinsic to intentional characterization, Ascribing beliefs to someone, the author argues more difficult epistemological task than is commonly appreciated, and is especially difficult in the sorts of situations that translators are in. The basic idea is the quite simple one that the task of understanding the assertions someone makes in an unknown tongue centers around figuring out what the speaker believes and wants others to believe when he or she makes those utterances. The tact that an inordinate number of different sets of beliefs and desires can all generate the same behavior is the central reason for the precariousness of belief ascription using the behavioral strategy alone.