Commensurability and the Alien Mind

In this brief essay Quine clarifies and limits his sometimes misconstrued and misapplied thesis of the “indeterminacy of translation.” It does not imply, as some have claimed, that translation is impossible or arbitrary. Nor does it say (as due consideration of the place of observation in science confirms) that arguments from the indeterminacy of translation can be extended properly to a supposed incommensurability of scientific theories.