KVAJNOVA BIHEJVIORISTIČKA TEORIJA JEZIKA
QUINE’S BEHAVIOURIST THEORY OF LANGUAGE

Summary/Abstract: Within Quine’s philosophy, behaviorism is most present in the language learning context, both in children’s learning their native language and in translating an unknown language. It was directed against mentalistic semantics and referential theories of meaning. We will focus the examination of Quine’s behaviorism on the thesis of indeterminacy of translation, since there we will find all the elements necessary for further analysis. We will try to explicate the content of the thesis of indeterminacy of translation and point out the key problems which it faces. We will show exactly what kind of behaviorism Quine is defending and to what degree is his theory of language a successful alternative to mentalistic theories of meaning.

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