Convention, Translation, and Understanding

Download or read book Convention, Translation, and Understanding written by Robert Feleppa and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 1988-07-08 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book surveys several theoretical controversies in anthropology that revolve around reconciling the objective description of culture with the influence of inquirer interests and conceptions. It relates them to discussions by followers of W.V. Quine who see the problems of anthropological inquiry as indicative of conceptual problems in the basic assumptions operative in the discipline, and in the study of language in general. Feleppa offers a revised view of the nature and function of translation in anthropology that gives a plausible account of the problems that traditional semantics introduces into anthropology, while avoiding the severe methodological import Quine envisions.