Are there empirical cases of indeterminacy of translation?

In Dirk Greimann (ed.), Themes from Wittgenstein and Quine (Special Topic II: Quine). Brill. pp. 131-148 (2014)
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Abstract

Quine’s writings on indeterminacy of translation are mostly abstract and theoretical; his reasons for the thesis are not based on historical cases of translation but on general considerations about how language works. So it is no surprise that a common objection to the thesis asserts that it is not backed up by any positive empirical evidence. Ian Hacking (1981 and 2002) claims that whatever credibility the thesis does enjoy comes rather from alleged (fictitious) cases of radical mistranslation. This paper responds to objections of that kind by exhibiting actual cases of indeterminacy of translation.

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Rogério Severo
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul

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Was There Ever a Radical Mistranslation?Ian Hacking - 1981 - Analysis 41 (4):171 - 175.

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