Statement making

Your short essay should be concerned with the reading, and center on a single thesis. A thesis is a simple, non-trivial and interesting statement making a claim about a certain topic. It is neither a summary statement nor
a mere paraphrase. It is a position that you hold on the topic. You should devote your short essay to establishing your thesis.
below are the topics. 26-7 Stimulus meaning underdetermines what we say. Hence people can diverge in what they say even when
having the same stimulus. Stimulus meaning is a matter of degree; also collateral information, even if there is no present stimulus. Consider translation manuals for language, complexes of dispositions for verbal
behavior.
27-8 Translation when no kindred languages and no interpreters or dictionaries: ‘Gavagai’—does it mean
‘rabbit’? What will the native assent to? How to determine when assenting? [Turks]. 30 ahrder for sentences
having no present stimuiluspp;he is away hunting giraffes’.
31-2 Stimulus [of the sense organ] and stimulus meaning, the class of all stimulations that would prompt assent
to the sentence. 33 can vary with the time and with the modulus. The affirmative and negative stimulus
meanings are mutually exclusive.
33-4 Dispositions and counterfactuals: ‘would’. The same stimulus can reoccur, and so it is a universal.
35 Stimulus meaning of ‘goblin’ versus ‘unicorn’? Cf. Carnap.
35-6 occasion sentences versus standing sentences: a matter of the modulus.
37 Synonymy for occasion senteneces: problems with collateral information. Also rabbit flies and kibitzers [and
perverseness?]. 38 How to strip out socially shared information from the stimulus meaning? 40 the linguist
assumes, prima facie, tht two languages will have similar concepts about objects. 41 But color terms are not
matched thus, or may not have the word, ‘Blue’; tetrachromy.
42 More collateral information with ‘bachelor’.
Observation sentence: an occasion sentence not affected much by collateral information. 44 as in science
46 even ‘bachelor’ and ‘unmarried male’ are stimulus synonymous [although not for Quine synonymous, as in
“Two Dogma”].
47 Does being bilingual solve the translation problem?
48 words of second intention really problematic.
49 need to stick to short sentences. Even then cf. ‘Everest’ and ‘Baurisanker’; Indian/Buffalo nickel; and the
conniving mode: calling Olivier Macbeth.