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Inscrutability of reference
The inscrutability or indeterminacy of reference (also indeterminacy of reference, or referential inscrutability) is a thesis propounded by 20th century analytic philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine in his book ''Word and Object''.〔Quine, Willard Van Orman (1960): ''Word and Object''. MIT Press; ISBN 0-262-67001-1.〕 The main claim of this theory is that any given sentence can be changed into a variety of other sentences where the parts of the sentence will change in what they reference, but they will nonetheless maintain the meaning of the sentence as a whole.〔http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/quine/〕 The referential relation is inscrutable, because it is subject to the background language and ontological commitments of the speaker.
== Status among Quine's other theories ==
Along with the holophrastic indeterminacy, the inscrutability of reference is the second kind of indetermincy that makes up Quine's thesis about the indeterminacy of (radical) translation. While the inscrutability of reference concerns itself with single words, Quine does not want it to be used for propositions, as he attacks those in another way.〔cf. Bayer, Benjamin: (Quine's Pragmatic Solution to Skeptical Doubts ). July 6, 2009.〕 He challenges the translation or referential scrutability of whole sentences, proposing his idea of the indeterminacy of translation. In order to accomplish this, Quine makes the statement that there is a so-called holophrastic indeterminacy, which tells that there are always multiple translations of one sentence, which are not only different in the meaning of the single parts of them, but moreover is the whole meaning of both translations dissimilar. According to Quine, there is no way to give an example for holophrastic indeterminacy, because it affects the whole, and every language. Therefore, one has to blindly accept the validity of this hypothesis, or try to make sense of it via reflecting upon the idea.〔cf. Hylton, Peter: (Willard van Orman Quine ). In: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, April 9, 2010.〕 This theory, linked with the inscrutability of reference make up the main characteristics of the indeterminacy of translation.
The inscrutability of reference can also be used in a more extended way, in order to explain Quine's theory of ontological relativity. We are told that, if we try to determine what the referential object of a certain word is, our answer will always be relative to our own ''background language''. Now, as Quine sees it, this idea is not only limited to language, but applies also for scientific questions and philosophical ones. For example, if we are proposed a philosophical theory, we can never definitely characterize the ontological commitments of it. The most we can do, is to adapt this theory to our current ''background philosophy'', that is the theory of which we have already accepted the ontological commitments.〔cf. Loux, Michael J.: ''Metaphysics – A Contemporary Introduction''. London: Routledge, 3rd edition, 2006, p. 278f.〕 Because of this theory, Quine was often regarded as a relativist, or even a scientific skepticist. He, however, insisted that he belongs in neither of these categories,〔cf. Keil, Geert: ''Quine zur Einführung''. Hamburg: Junius, 1st edition, 2002, 75ff.〕 and some authors see in the inscrutability of reference an undermination of relativism.〔cf. Swoyer, Chris: (''Relativism'' ). In: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, February 2, 2003.〕
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