Language, Literature and Culture

2019; 2(3): 93-101

http://www.aascit.org/journal/llc

Language and Conception of Reality: An

Intervention on Conceptual Scheme Relativism
Adesanya, Oreoluwa Idris
Department of Philosophy, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

Email address

Citation
Adesanya, Oreoluwa Idris. Language and Conception of Reality: An Intervention on Conceptual Scheme Relativism. Language, Literature
and Culture. Vol. 2, No. 3, 2019, pp. 93-101.

Received: March 28, 2019; Accepted: June 2, 2019; Published: June 19, 2019

Abstract: The link between language and reality is considered by some philosophers as that of an “unbreakable bond”,
“tyrannical hold”, or an “unbridgeable gap”, which depends on certain conceptions of language as categorizing, organizing and
fitting reality or experience. These views as expressed by the likes of Benjamin Lee Whorf, Edward Sapir, Willard Van
OrmanQuine, Thomas Khun and Paul Feyerabend, who are considered by Donald Davidson as conceptual relativists: are
opposed to the realist doctrine in metaphysics that reality exists independently of the human mind, that is, of human conception
and categorization in terms of thought and speech. However, these views have been considered as expressing various strands of
conceptual scheme relativism, which is a doctrine radically rejected by Donald Davidson. Davidson devises various arguments
and metaphors to challenge the very idea of a conceptual scheme and the relativism which apparently comes with it in his
paper, entitled: On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme. According to Davidson, conceptual schemes can be associated with
language and the relation between conceptual schemes and language could be expressed by illustrating how language performs
the same role that conceptual schemes perform in categorizing, conceptualizing, and perceiving experience or reality, as such,
translatability into a familiar tongue, is conceived by Davidson as a criterion of languagehood, with the implication that any
language which is not translatable into another cannot be said to be a language at all. Therefore, speakers of two different
languages that fail of mutual translation must be users of two distinct conceptual schemes, going by Davidson’s interpretation.
In defense of his assumption that there can be no language at all that is not translatable into another, Davidson appropriates
Tarski’s Convention T, which is a theory of truth for formalized languages as a theory of meaning for natural language. This
paper, upon an interrogation of Davidson’s major arguments against conceptual relativism, therefore avers that Davidson
misappropriatesTarsky’s theory of truth for formalized languages as a theory of meaning for natural languages, thereby,
directly reducing “meaning” to “truth”. The paper therefore confronts the basic assumptions underlying Davidson’s notion of
conceptual schemes and his rejection of conceptual scheme relativism, while also considering his more recent convictions
about the very notion of language.

Keywords: Conceptual Schemes, Scheme-Content Dualism, Conceptual Relativism, Language, Reality, Experience

access to the external world, as such, the mind is only fed

1. Introduction with ideas, perceptual impressions or sense data, that are
A unique feature of metaphysics is its attempt to give a given as representing the external physical world. Hence, the
comprehensive account of the nature and structure of reality seemingly unbridgeable gap between the object known and
as a whole and not simply piecemeal. If this claim is anything the knowing mind. With the emergence of Immanuel Kant,
to go by, then we assume that there is a reality existing there was a radical shift from the belief in the mind-
independently of human conception and categorization in independence of objects or external physical reality, to the
terms of thought and speech. The supposition is that there opinion that the object known is in part constituted by the
exists a reality outside and independent of the human mind. knowing mind. Hence, the gap between the known object and
This is known as the realist view in metaphysics. For so the knowing mind is bridged.
many years prior to Immanuel Kant, there was a dominant As for Kant, appearances which inhabit the phenomenal
view that the mind or the conscious self does not have direct world are partly our construction, since they are obtained by
94 Adesanya and Oreoluwa Idris: Language and Conception of Reality: An Intervention on Conceptual Scheme Relativism

our imposition of a priori concepts. For him, only things-in- referring, dependent on our language.” [1], p. 235.
themselves, the noumena, are objectively independent from Such analytic philosophers as Bertrand Russell, Ludwig
the influence of our “rational and perceptual apparatus.” With Wittgenstein, G. E. Moore were more popular with a familiar
the emergence of a certain “linguistic turn” in philosophy, doctrine of logical atomism, while those of the Vienna
attention has been centered so heavily on language and its school, like Moritz Schlick, A. J. Ayer and others known as
relation to reality. In expressing this shift in attention, the logical positivists, came up with their famous verifiability
Michael Devitt and Kim Sterelny have it that: “For reference principle. Bertrand Russell, known to have been the major
to be possible, “the gap” between the object referred to and patron of logical atomism makes the following statement:
the referring mind must be closed; the object must, in some “the atoms that I wish to arrive at as the sort of residue in
way, be made dependent on our way of referring, dependent analysis are logical atoms and not physical atoms. Some of
on our language.” [1] The emergence of logical atomism and them will be what I call “particulars” - such things as little
of its twin-sister, logical positivism ensured that “attention patches of colour or sounds, momentary things – and some of
has centered so heavily on language that the metaphysical them will be predicates or relations and so on. The point is
issue has tended to disappear; or to be redefined in linguistic that the atom I wish to arrive at is the atom of logical
terms; or, worst of all, to be confused with linguistic issues.” analysis, not the atom of physical analysis.” [2] Therefore,
[1], p. 235. when we look at reality from a logical point of view
However, the likes of Benjamin Lee Whorf, Edward Sapir (expressed in the language of logic), it seems to reduce to
and others hold the position that all thinking or thought is in particular things possessing certain qualities and standing in
language, and as such, that each “language structures a view certain relations to one another. Logical atomism proposes
of reality.” Their views open door to a sort of conceptual that language like other phenomena can be analyzed in terms
relativism which is objected to by the likes of Donald of aggregates of fixed irreducible units or elements. For
Davidson, whose views reflect a deep level of indebtedness Russell, logical atoms are the ultimate constituents of reality.
in this paper. This paper is set out to giving a succinct For him, there exists a correspondence between logic and
exposition of the major discussions and controversial theses metaphysics, since we could analyze the nature of reality via
that have consumed a vast literature on language and its analysis of language. Russell proposes that there is a perfect
relation to human conception of reality. correspondence between “atomic sentences” and “atomic
facts” and therefore argues that for each atomic fact there is a
matching or corresponding atomic sentence. While atomic
2. The Realism Debate and the sentences assert that a certain thing possesses a certain
Linguistic Turn in Philosophy quality, atomic facts consist in the possession of a quality by
some specific, individual thing.
As being hinted above, the realist view of the world is that As for Ludwig Wittgenstein, the business of philosophy
of the existence of mind-independent objects. This is a view should be the analysis of language. Wittgenstein in his early
that such physical entities as stones, trees, rocks exist and do philosophy shared much with Russellian atomism by holding
not depend for their existence on human minds. External the claim that language pictures reality. In the early stage of
physical entities exist independent of our awareness, his philosophical career, he tends to share a positivist view
perception, or thought about them. Going by this doctrine, which is an empirical attitude about language and meaning.
existing entities external to our minds do not depend on or In his first work in philosophy, Tractetus-Logico-
arise from the imposition of our concepts or theories. They Philosophicus, Wittgenstein claims that “philosophy is not a
are just there. As opposed to realism, idealism proposes the body of doctrines, but an activity.” [3] For him, philosophy
view that though external physical entities exist, they do not involves the clarification of propositions. For him, there is no
exist independent of the human mind. Hence, Berkeley’s thought which cannot be put into language, and it is by
dictum: “esseestpercipi”, “to be is to be perceived.” means of language that reality expresses itself. Wittgenstein
The view that there is an existing reality, external to and is of the view that language pictures the world as well as
independent of the human mind creates a huge gap between reality, this is his principle of picture theory, that “the
the world and the mind, that is, between the object known proposition is a picture of reality.” The main thesis of the
and the knowing mind. As being noted earlier, it was Kant picture theory is that every well-formed proposition is a
who bridged this gap between the human mind and external logical representation of the world. In Wittgenstein’s later
physical reality. For him, the objects known are in part work, Philosophical Investigations, he deviated from the
constituted by the knowing mind. Kant’s revolutionary views he earlier held in the Tractetus. Here he proposes his
influence paved way to what is referred to as the “linguistic theory of language game. Language game incorporates
turn” in philosophy. In the 20th century, amongst the analytic language use and sense in a comprehensive system.
thinkers, arguments leveled against realist doctrines typically Language is now seen as games that we play with words. For
begin from a thesis in the philosophy of language. “For him, the words are the instruments in language game and
reference to be possible, “the gap” between the object they have meaning in their application or ‘use’ by humans. In
referred to and the referring mind must be closed; the object explaining his viewpoint, he states, “what we do is bring
must in some way, be made dependent on our way of words back from their metaphysical to their everyday
 Language, Literature and Culture 2019; 2(3): 93-101 95

use.”[4] about physical entities, thereby quantifying them the same

A. J. Ayer, in his Language Truth and Logic gave impetus way. For instance, ‘ten days’ has the same linguistic form as
to logical positivism by discarding such “metaphysical thesis ‘ten men’. Our tense/aspect system has a tripartite distinction
that philosophy affords us knowledge of reality transcending of past/present/future which encourages this view of time.
the world of science and common sense.” [5] The positivists Even metaphor is spatialized and reified. [1], p. 222. Whorf
felt that such philosophical thought was literally meaningless, expands this view thus in his words:
and sought to prove this by their principle of verifiability, all languages need to express durations, intensities, and
which states that “meaning is method of verification.” If a tendencies. It is characteristic of SAE… to express them
statement is verifiable, it should have associated with it a metaphorically. The metaphors are those of spatial extension,
way of telling whether it is true or not, if it falls short of this i.e. of size, number (plurality), position, shape, and motion.
requirement, it is meaningless. With this weapon, the We express duration by ‘long, short, great, much, quick,
positivists hoped to eliminate metaphysics. They dismissed slow’, etc.; intensity by ‘large, great, much, heavy, light,
metaphysical issues and replaced them with linguistic ones. high, low, sharp, faint’, etc.; tendency by ‘more, increase,
They sought the task of philosophy in analyzing the grow …’; and so on through an almost inexhaustible list of
meanings of statements in terms of empirical evidence, or metaphors that we hardly recognize as such, since they are
experience, through which they are to be tested. virtually the only linguistic media available.
It is clear how this condition “fits in”. It is part of our
whole scheme of OBJECTIFYING – imaginatively
3. Language (Conceptual Schemes) spatializing qualities and potentials that are quite
as Organizing Reality (Content) nonspatial …. [6], p. 145.
Whorf further illustrates how the case is different in a
As being hinted in the introduction to this paper, the likes language like Hopi. In Hopi language, physical and temporal
of Benjamin Lee Whorf, Edward Sapir, Hilary Putnam entities have distinct or divergent linguistic structures. In
amongst others hold the view that “all thinking is in a contrast to how we have it in SAE languages, metaphors that
language”, and also that each “language structures a view of represent duration, intensity, and tendency are not spatial in
reality” with the extreme view that “the views of reality Hopi language. “Most importantly, their tense/aspect system
structured by languages, or at least by families of languages, does not map onto our past/present/future dichotomy. Whorf
differ.” [1], p. 218. Whorf for instance is a profound adherent claims that their “tense” makers are validity forms; they have
to this point of view. He expresses the view that language is epistemic interpretations. One form indicates direct report: it
“the shaper of ideas, the program and guide for the applies roughly to occasions in which we use simple past or
individual’s mental activity.” [6] Edward Sapir also shares present. Another indicates expectation: it is roughly
this same viewpoint with Whorf, claiming that there is a way equivalent to our future, though it can be used to describe an
that language imposes on experience. Whorf also sometimes event distant from but simultaneous with the utterance.
suggest that a language not only forces people to think in Finally, there is the nomicform: it is roughly equivalent to the
certain ways but also constrains their world view. In English generic present, as in ‘A man lives and dies in sin’.
describing how language influences or distorts our view of In addition, there are temporal conjunctions. These link
reality, Whorf prefers to use the word “unbreakable bonds”, clauses and translate approximately as ‘earlier than’ and
while for Sapir; “tyrannical hold” which prevents us from ‘later than’.” [1], p. 222-223. Whorf’s major task in drawing
having certain thoughts. out these illustrations is to show how SAE influences or
Moreover, Whorf, while discussing the way the syntax of a constrains us to a conception of time and how Hopi language
language structures a view of reality and how different influences or constrains the Hopi people to another. We
languages can be syntactically different in a way that cannot therefore attribute our conception of time to them.
influences or constrains our world views, gives an illustration Donald Davidson writes in the opening lines of his essay,
of how “Standard Average European” (SAE) languages like On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme, that conceptual
English and American Indian languages like Hopi, are schemes have been used by various philosophers to mean
syntactically different. His major argument is that for we “ways of organizing experience” or “systems of categories
speakers of SAE languages, there is a way they impose a that give form to the data of sensation”, and more generally;
certain conception of time on us. We see time as a “smooth they are said to be like “points of view from which
flowing continuum in which everything in the universe individuals, cultures or periods survey the passing scene.” [7]
proceeds at an equal rate, out of a future, through a present, Here we can infer an understanding of conceptual schemes as
into a past; or, in which, to reverse the picture, the observer is performing a mediating role between our views of the world
being carried in the system of duration continuously away and the world itself, which means that we do not have a
from a past and into a future.” [6], p. 57. The point being direct view of reality itself, just as Kant has posited, but that
made here is that Standard Average European languages our view of the world is mediated by a conceptual scheme.
make us see time as a concrete material thing, rather than Davidson writes that: “we may accept the doctrine that
something abstract. We see time as an objective quantifiable associates having a language with having a conceptual
object like space. We talk about time the same way we talk scheme.” He goes further to argue that “we may identify
96 Adesanya and Oreoluwa Idris: Language and Conception of Reality: An Intervention on Conceptual Scheme Relativism

conceptual schemes with languages…Languages we will echo significant dissimilarities in style and value.” [7], p.
think of as separate from souls; speaking a language is not a 184. The assumption that underlies the above point made by
trait a man can lose while retaining the power of thought.” Davidson is that “if conceptual schemes differ, so do
[7], p. 184-185. Therefore, language is very crucial to languages.”
thought, as it is a way of expressing thought. We have Whorf for instance, seems to think that Hopi cannot be
discussed earlier on in this paper, how Whorf favours the translated into Standard Average European languages like
doctrine that language somehow constrains and prevents English and French. Davidson singles him out as: “wanting
thought, therefore, that language influences our thinking and to demonstrate that Hopi incorporates a metaphysics so alien
conceptions of reality. to ours, that Hopi and English cannot, as he puts it, “be
The view that languages or conceptual schemes organize calibrated,”.”Davidson goes on to fault Whorf’s claim by
reality opens doors to conceptual relativism, as earlier stressing that he “uses English to convey the contents of
pointed at in this paper. Davidson strongly rejects this view, sample Hopi sentences.” [7], p. 184. This is a point we shall
and instead argues that translatability into a familiar tongue is raise in a later section.
a criterion of language-hood. Therefore, we cannot make Such views as expressed by the likes of Benjamin Lee
sense of a language which cannot or could not be translated Whorf, Edward Sapir and the rest are a good illustration of
into a familiar idiom. We shall shift to this issue in the next the conceptual relativism Davidson objects to. According to
section. Whorf, the Hopi syntax seems to defy translation into SAE
thereby giving way for a radical incommensurability in
4. Conceptual Scheme Relativism languages. Noam Chomsky and the likes deny this view. For
them, there is a rich set of “linguistic universals” common to
Conceptual scheme relativism is the doctrine Davidson or shared by all languages.
chiefly repudiates in his On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Davidson expresses in his words that: “Alternatively, there
Scheme. He talks about conceptual schemes as being used by is the idea that any language distorts reality, which implies
philosophers to imply ways of organizing experience or that it is only wordlessly, if at all, that the mind comes to
reality. For Davidson, the various views of the roles of grips with things as they really are. This is to construe
conceptual schemes can be split into two groups, and this is language as an inert (though necessarily distorting) medium
expressed in the following words by Broadbent: independent of the human agencies that deploy this view of
those which talk of the scheme organizing, systematizing, language that surely (according to Davidson) cannot be
and dividing up content; and those which talk of the scheme maintained.” [7], p. 185. Related to this view is that people
fitting, predicting, accounting for, and facing content. construct their theories of the world partly on the basis of
Similarly, the various views of the content can be split up their innate inheritance and largely on the basis of the
into two groups: those which talk of the scheme’s relation to experiential stimuli they receive. This leads us to Whorf’s
experience, the passing show, surface irritations, sensory claim that the theories we construct are influenced and
promptings, sense-data, or the given. [8] probably constrained by the language of the community in
As such, if conceptual schemes divide up or organize which we live. For Whorf, a language “is a classification and
experience, there is a sense in which we could talk of arrangement of the stream of sensory experience;” and as
different schemes, thereby leading us to conceptual such “the world is presented in a kaleidoscopic flux of
relativism. Even the experience or reality which they impressions which has to be organized by our minds – and
organize will be so divergent or incommensurable to the this means largely by the linguistic systems in our minds.”
extent that there could be no scheme-neutral content. Let us [6], p. 213-55. This statement confirms the fact that language
agree with Davidson that we may associate having a organizes experience or reality, and if this assertion is
conceptual scheme with having a language, and therefore that anything to go by, then we should accept the view that
“there may be no translating from one scheme to another, in different languages organize experience or reality in different
which case the beliefs, desires, hopes, and bits of knowledge ways, hence, Sapir’s exaggerationthat: “No two languages
that characterize one person have no true counterparts for the are ever sufficiently similar to be considered as representing
subscriber to another scheme. Reality itself ‘ (content being the same social reality.” [9] The social realities that different
organized)’ is relative to a scheme: what counts as real in one languages represent or organize are drastically distinct or
system may not in another.” [7], p. 183. The doctrine of divergent, and thereby incommensurable. The world’s in
conceptual scheme relativism thereby translates to the view which Sapir’s linguistically different societies live “are
that two languages may be radically different to the extent distinct worlds.”This view is also reiterated by Whorf when
that they are not inter-translatable, even the content or reality who claims that: “different languages differently “segment”
they organize or divide up is relative to a language. This the same situation or experience.” [6], p. 162. Whorf is found
point is further expressed in Davidson’s words that: using such expressions as “we dissect nature,” “we cut nature
“Languages that have evolved in distant times or places may up” [6], p. 213. While for Sapir, “the ‘real world’ is to a large
differ extensively in their resources for dealing with one or extent built up on the language habits of the group.” [9], p.
another range of phenomena. What comes easily in one 162.
language may come hard in another, and this difference may This discussion is incomplete without mention of the
 Language, Literature and Culture 2019; 2(3): 93-101 97

scientific radicals: historians of science like Thomas Kuhn, as theories become more general and precise. As for Popper,
and philosophers of science like Paul Feyerabend. The same theory change is not an elaboration or accumulation of facts,
way Whorf has argued that linguistic communities can be but a replacement, what he calls a revolution and not merely
incommensurable, because of the vast dissimilarities in a reform.
conceptual frameworks, Kuhn and Feyerabend also admit However, both positivist and Popperian views of science
that scientific communities can also share the same feature, presuppose a common scientific language, which is common
in the sense that each scientific community or “paradigm” to all scientific theories, this language is the language of
uses distinct incommensurable schemes. According to observation. It was taken that even when theories differ, they
Davidson, ““Incommensurability” is, of course, Kuhn and share the same language in which reports of experiment and
Feyerabend’s word for “not intertranslatable.”” [7], p. 190. observation can be given. On the other hand, Kuhn and
According to Kuhn, the progress of science should not be Feyerabend and others reject the whole orthodox picture,
viewed as a steady development towards increasingly true while denying the existence of any scientific language that is
theories, rather, science progresses by revolutionary changes neutral between all competing theories (the scheme-neutral
in paradigm. Paradigm in this sense represents Khun’s word content). According to Thomas Kuhn:
for conceptual schemes. For Kuhn, all scientific activities are Philosophers have now abandoned hope of finding a pure
carried out within a particular paradigm at a given moment in sense-datum language … but many of them continue to
the history of science. Paradigms, according to Kuhn, assume that theories can be compared by recourse to a basic
determine certain factors that influence how science is being vocabulary consisting entirely of words which are attached to
perceived at a given period, including the problems, values, nature in ways that are unproblematic and, to the extent
terms, concepts, methods, techniques, principles and theories necessary, independent of theory … Feyerabend and I have
that are accepted at the period, as well as views on the world argued at length that no such vocabulary is available. In the
itself, existence and truth. Paradigms therefore determine the transition from one theory to the next words change their
general approach to science at a given period in scientific meanings or conditions of applicability in subtle ways.
practice. However, a current paradigm might be challenged Though most of the same signs are used before and after a
by an anomaly or certain natural occurrences which it is revolution … e.g. force, mass, element, compound, cell …
unable to provide explanations for, as such, the old paradigm the ways in which some of them attach to nature has
may be eventually replaced by a new paradigm which is able somehow changed. Successive theories are thus, we say,
to account for these changes, by using a conception of incommensurable. [11]
science, different from that of the old paradigm. These The scientific radicals hold the opinion that comprehensive
revolutionary changes in paradigm or what Kuhn refers to as theories cannot be compared the way the positivists and
“paradigm shifts” eventuate huge dissimilarities between the Popperians wanted, since there are no shared concepts and
old paradigm and the new paradigm, in such a way that their hence, no logical relations between the theories.
conceptions of science, of terms and concepts, of truth, In contrast to the view held by Davidson, W. V. O. Quine
including the values used to guide their choice of theory, and defends the claim that translation from a particular language
even the worlds they work in, are drastically to another is indeterminate. For Quine, “language is a social
incommensurable. The implication this holds for conceptual art” which is only acquired through inter-subjectively
relativism is that the languages (scientific language) used or available hints as to “what to say and when.” Quine therefore
understood by different scientific paradigms are so different submits that “there is no justification for collating linguistic
that they are unintertranslatable, since there will be no way to meanings, unless in terms of men’s dispositions to respond
compare them, as there is no scheme-neutral content overtly to socially observable stimulations.” Therefore, that
(reality/world) by which to compare between thescientific “an effect of recognizing this limitation is that the enterprise
languages used by two distinct scientific paradigms. They do of translation (itself) is found to be involved in a certain
not even share a common conception of truth, which is a systematic indeterminacy…” [12] This is a behavioural
precondition for Davidson’s “principle of charity”. This conception of language which begins from the standpoint of
informs Kuhn’s aphorism that: “though the world does not the “radical translator”, who operates as an observer,
change with a change in paradigm, the scientist afterward carefully monitoring he behaviour of the native speakers of a
works in a very different world.” [10] language which give assent to and dissent from utterances,
Davidson explicitly mentions Kuhn, Feyerabend, Whorf, and to check in what contexts or circumstances they will be
Strawson, and Quine in his critique of conceptual scheme disposed to give assent to and dissent from particular
relativism. Both Kuhn and Feyerabend are of the view that sentences in the language. Davidson’s notion of radical
the languages of different theories in the one area are not interpretation is a follow up of this view.
inter-translatable and hence the theories are In relation to his thesis of indeterminacy of translation,
“incommensurable”. This school of scientists championed a Quine discusses his notion of indeterminacy or inscrutability
radical critique 20th century scientific orthodoxy, stemming of reference, or what he sometimes refers to as ontological
from the logical positivists on the on hand and Karl Popper relativity. According to this claim, “if there exists one correct
on the other hand. For the positivists, science consists in the referential hypothesis regarding the terms of another’s
accumulation of data which are often theoretically reviewed language, then there will be many other equally correct ones.
98 Adesanya and Oreoluwa Idris: Language and Conception of Reality: An Intervention on Conceptual Scheme Relativism

Put in terms of ontology, if it is correct to attribute one 4.1. Davidson’s Rejection of Conceptual
system of ontological commitments to another person, then it Scheme Relativism
will be equally correct to attribute others.” [13] This being
the case, there will be no way in which we can choose which Davidson’s rejection of conceptual relativism is hinged on
correct referential hypothesis is most adequate, as they are all two basic assumptions. The first assumption made by
adequate. For Quine, reference is relative, and this relativity Davidson is that conceptual schemes can be associated with
results in its indeterminacy. Quine argues that the reference language, in the sense that language plays the same roles as
of terms used in one language is relative to a choice of a conceptual schemes in categorizing and organizing our
manual of translation that will correlate them with that of perception of reality or experience. The second assumption is
others. What the other person refers to in his language that transalatability into a familiar language or idiom is a
depends on the correlation between his words and those of criterion of languagehood, as such, a condition that a
users of other languages that best save the observable data or proposed language must satisfy before it can be duly
behavior. The implications of Quine’sbehaviouristic regarded as a language is that it must be interpretable, and
conception of language for conceptual scheme relativism, is thus, translatable into another language. However, in order to
that it logically culminates in what Davidson refers to as prove the impossibility of a language which cannot be
“scheme-content” dualism. Quine holds a holistic view of translated into a familiar idiom, Davidsonfocuses on two
language, in the sense that we cannot demarcate individual different ways distinct conceptual schemes could fail to be
statements and compare them with instances of experience, translated: Either completely or partially. According to him, a
rather, language should be taken as a whole system. This is complete failure of translation occurs when there is a
the basis for his rejection of the analytic/synthetic distinction language which is so different that there is no significant
and radical reductionism, which he refers to as the two range of sentences which can be translated, while a partial
dogmas of empiricism. Analytic statements are those that are failure of translation occurs when some of the language’s
made true based on their linguistic components or meanings, sentences can be translated, but a significant subset cannot.
while synthetic statements are those that are made true by Davidson argues that one cannot make sense of either
experience. For Quine, statements which are true, possibility, and therefore concludes that sense cannot be
independent of experience (analytic statements) cannot be made of the claim that there could be a conceptual scheme
isolated from statements whose truths depend on experiential which is incommensurable with that of others. However,
support (synthetic statements), therefore, the distinction Davison began his search for a criterion of languagehood
between analytic statements and synthetic statements does which does not entail translatability by analyzing how the
not hold. Quine also rejectsreductionism, which is the claim supporters of conceptual scheme relativism have formulated
that we can isolate the experiential support for particular their positions on the subject. These can be divided into two
statements. According to Quine, “…it is nonsense, and the groups: those which talk of the conceptual scheme
root of much nonsense, to speak of a linguist component and organizing, systematizing, and dividing up content; and those
a factual component in the truth of any individual statement. which talk of the scheme fitting, predicting, accounting for,
Taken collectively, science has it double dependence upon and facing content. In a similar way, the various views of the
language and experience; but this duality is not significantly content can be divided into two groups: those which
traceable into the statements of science taken one by one.” emphasize the scheme’s relation to experience, the universe,
[14] The implication of this view is that statements cannot be the world, or nature; and those which talk of the scheme’s
justified based on meaning or experience in isolation, but relation to experience, the passing show, surface irritations,
rather as a corporate body. To this effect, Quine writes that: sensory promptings, sense-data, or the given. After
My countersuggestion…is that our statements about the examining these various views on the roles of scheme and
external world face the tribunal of sense experience not content, Davidson comes to the conclusion that none
individually but only as a corporate body. [14], p. 41. provides a basis for the acceptance of the claim that there are
However, by holding the claim that it is our collective incommensurable conceptual schemes or untranslatable
statements that can be justified by experience, Quine creates languages. His first target was to examine the claim that
a gap between our entire system of statements and conceptual schemes organize reality, and if such a claim that
experience, which culminates in a dualism between provide a criterion of languagehood which does not depend
conceptual scheme and empirical content, which Davidson on translatability into a familiar tongue. For Davidson, the
refers to as the scheme- content dualism. Davidson reacts to notion of organizing a single reality is faulty, since it does not
this dualism when he writes that: make sense to organize a single object, as the notion of
I want to urge that this second dualism of scheme and of organizing itself, requires multiple objects to be organized:
content, of organizing system and something waiting to be “we cannot attach a clear meaning to the notion of organizing
organized, cannot be made intelligible and defensible. It is a single object (the world, nature, etc) unless that object is
itself a dogma of empiricism, the third dogma. The third, and understood to contain or consist in other objects.” [7], p. 192.
perhaps the last, for if we give it up it is not clear that there is Davidson also finds fault with the claim that the content
anything distinctive left to call empiricism. [7], p. 189. which conceptual schemes organize is experience. For him,
this view faces exactly the same problems as the view that
 Language, Literature and Culture 2019; 2(3): 93-101 99

conceptual schemes organize reality, since in order to make argues that by his very principle of charity, when interpreting
sense of this idea, experience needs to be split down into a speaker of a language which isnot yet understood, the first
multiple experiences to be organized. The claim that one step is to presume that there is a basic agreement on beliefs,
language could have predicates for experiences which and aim to maximize agreement based on the shared notion
another language lacks only makes sense by using a language of truth. Otherwise, interpreting such a language will be
which contains predicates for all various experiences. This impossible. For him, interpreting by the principle of charity
does not help in making sense of the idea of languages which cannot mislead. If there is no foundation of agreement
cannot be translated. between the interpreter and the alien (speaker of the language
After examining the notion of organizing schemes and the to be interpreted), then there can be no adequate
contents which they organize, Davidson then diverts his understanding of such a language, such that disagreement
attention to the claim that conceptual schemes fit or cope will be impossible. A drawback of Davidson’s theory of
with experience or “sensory promptings”. For him, “for a meaning which underlies his idea of interpretivism: the view
theory to fit or face up to the totality of sensory experience is that under appropriate conditions, a fully informed interpreter
for that theory to be true.” [7], p. 193. Going by this view, for can discern all that there is to know about the language of an
a theory to fit all experience, then it is certainly in need of alien speaker, and the principle of charity, is that the Tarskian
modification, and as such, could be said to be false. theory of truth which Davidson uses to formulate his theory
Davidson’s argument is that because this account requires all of meaning for natural languages is originally developed by
theories to be true, in the sense of fitting all possible Tarski for formalized languages. Even Tarskiclaims that
experience, it fails to add anything significant to the intuitive appropriating a theory of truth for formalized language and
understanding of truth. extending it to natural languages will end up in confusion.
For Davidson, to make sense of alternative conceptual According to him:
schemes is to talk of alternative conceptual schemes which …The very possibility of a consistent use of the expression
are “largely true but not translatable”. Davidson argues that ‘true sentence’ which is in harmony with the laws of logic
we cannot make sense of a language which expresses truths, and the spirit of everyday language seems to be very
but cannot be interpreted, since the notion of truth cannot be questionable, and consequently the same doubt attaches to
divorced from the idea of interpretation. For him, our best the possibility of constructing a correct dentition of this
understanding of truth is that which is given by Tarski’s expression. [15], p. 28.
convention T, which claims that: The direct implication of Davidson’s theory of meaning is
A satisfactory theory of truth for a language L must entail that meaning is analyzed in terms of truth or to put it in order
for every sentence S of L, a theorem of the form ‘S is true if words, what Davidson does is to equate truth to meaning.
and only if P’ where ‘S’ is replaced by a description of S and Although, we can draw out the connection between truth and
‘P’ by S itself if L is English, and by a translation of S into meaning in Davidson’s theory, but there is no logical way in
English if L is not English. [15] which sense could be made of a straightforward reduction of
Davidson claims that if Tarski’s work represents the best “meaning” to “truth”. Hence, knowing that a sentence is true
available understanding of truth, then translation and truth does not imply knowing what the sentence means. Moreover,
are interdependent to such an extent that one cannot Davidson’s association of a conceptual scheme with language
understand what it would mean for a conceptual scheme to be and his Quinean conviction that a language cannot be
“largely true but no translatable”. Davidson has thus shown separated from the theory in which it is borne out, has come
why neither the view that conceptual schemes organize the under attack by critics like Piotr Dehnel, Xinli Wang, and the
world or experience, nor the view that conceptual schemes rest. Dehnel on his part contends that “language is not a totality
organize or fit experience, enable to find a criterion for of sentences, but a set of syntactic and semantic rules used to
languagehood which can apply to languages that are produce sentences.” What this implies is that language is not a
untranslatable. Therefore, he cannot make sense of the idea totality of sentences held true by a linguistic community,
of an untranslatable language. Davidson considers next, the neither is it a theory which faces the tribunal of experience, but
possibility of partial failures of translation. He attacks the a set of syntactic and semantic rules that govern the
possibility of conceptual schemes, whose languages can formulation of sentences. [16] According to Xinli Wang,
partially be translated. The idea behind this claim is that if neither a scientific language nor a natural language can be
there are a significant number of sentences which can be considered as a conceptual scheme. Davidson construes
translated then one may be able to “make changes and scientific language as a form of sentiential language, which he
contrasts in conceptual schemes intelligible by reference to associates with schemes, but Wang argues that ideally, when
the common part.” [7], p. 195. the very idea of a conceptual scheme is closely examined, one
realizes that what forms many parts of a conceptual scheme,
4.2. Interrogating Davidson’s Arguments such as a categorical framework, like a lexical structure of a
AgainstConceptual Relativism scientific theory, are not a set of sentences or beliefs, as
In contrast to Quine’s thesis of the indeterminacy of Davidson contends. Another point raised by Wang is that a
translation, Davidson holds the view that “translatability into conceptual scheme is meant to serve as the conceptual
a familiar tongue is a criterion of language hood.” Davidson framework of a theory or the system of concepts in which a
100 Adesanya and Oreoluwa Idris: Language and Conception of Reality: An Intervention on Conceptual Scheme Relativism

theory is couched or explained, and cannot be the theory itself of conceptual relativism.
or the language expressing the theory. Wang further contends
that a conceptual scheme is not supposed to be conceived as 5. Conclusion
what we believe, what we experience, or what we perceive
from the world or how we perceive the world, but a conceptual This paper has been able to do justice to the wide-range of
scheme is what shapes our beliefs or belief-systems, what discussions and controversial theses that relate to language
schematizes our experience or what makes our experience and human conception of reality. The discussion of these
possible: a scheme according to Wang, is what determines the issues projects indebtedness to the views shared by Donald
way in which we perceive the world or reality. In this point of Davidson on language and or conceptual schemes as they
view, a conceptual scheme is therefore something “forced on relate to reality. As being evident in this paper, Davidson
us conceptually, something we commit tacitly as fundamental completely rejects conceptual relativism, or the doctrine that
presuppositions of our common experience or beliefs.” Against different languages could reflect the same reality in
the presupposition that a conceptual scheme describes reality completely different or divergent ways. This he does by
or “fits” reality or experience, like Quine and Davidson explicitly mentioning the likes of W. V. O Quine, Thomas
suggest, it is the theory a conceptual scheme formulates or the Khun, Paul Feyerabend, Benjamin Lee Whorf and P. F
theoretical claims made within a conceptual scheme that Strawson, as the major proponents of conceptual scheme
describes reality or experience as it were. Therefore, Wang relativism. In this paper, Davidson’s theory of meaning,
contends that “… it would not improve matters to stipulate that which underlies his principle of charity and doctrine of
a conceptual scheme is the totality of sentences held to be true interpretivism, has been evaluated, based on its
by its speaker or the believer’s total belief system,” [17] just as straightforward reduction of “meaning” to “truth”, and
the “principle of charity” suggests. misappropriation of the Tarskian theory of truth for
However, Davidson contends that the conventional formalized languages as a theory of meaning for natural
attribution of meanings to sentences and what is often languages. Davidson’s notion of conceptual scheme and his
referred to as a language in the sense of a set of rules and arguments against the relativism which apparently comes
vocabulary that a community uses, that is often outlined in a with them vis-à-vis his entire philosophy of language and
dictionary is a secondary notion which is merely formulated communication have been interrogated in this paper, in a bid
for ease of communication without having to go by radical to show that Conceptual relativism has survived the
interpretation. For him, “…there is no such thing as a challenge of Davidson’s arguments.
language;, not if a language is anything like what many
philosophers and linguists have proposed. There is therefore
no such thing to be learned, mastered or born with. We must References
give up the idea of a clearly defined shared structure which
language-users acquire and then apply to cases.” [18] [1] Devitt, M, Sterelny, K. 1999. Language and Reality- An
Introduction to the Philosophy of Language. 2nd ed. (Oxford:
According to Michael Dummett, this argument is absurd, Blackwell Publishers.) p. 235-218.
since “words have meaning in themselves, independently of
speakers… They have them in virtue of belonging to the [2] First published in The Monist, 1918, and reprinted in Russell,
language, and hence in virtue of the existence of a social B. 1956. Logic and Knowledge, ed. R. C. Marsh, Allen
&Unwin, London. p. 3.
practice.” [19] Unlike Davidson, Dummett contends that
words and meanings are framed by the social practice of a [3] Wittgenstein, L. 1961. Tractetus Logico Philosophicus,
language, which is in turn constituted by conventions. (Translated by D. F. Pears and B. F. Meguinnes, London.) 4,
Jonathan Knowles reacts to Davidson’s rejection of the 112.
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survives notwithstanding Davidson’s arguments against it. Trans. By G. E. M. Ascombe, (Ocford: Basil Blackwell Ltd.)
Knowles writes that Davidson’s“views seem to entail that in Sect. 116.
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as we have successful interpreters, insofar as these all will introduction: London: Victor Gollacz. First ed., 1936. p. 13.
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different linguistic dispositions. But such a view of our [6] Whorf, B. 1956. Language, Thought, and Reality, ed. And
intro. John B. Carroll. (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.) p. 213-
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Knowles finds the basic problem with Davidson’s rejection
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generated it, which is “Davidson’s overall philosophy of Scheme” in: Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation.(Oxford:
Oxford University Press. 6th ed. 1991.) p. 195-183.
language and communication.” [20], p. 315. Another
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or language in the traditional understanding brings to mind is Thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the
if he was making reference to the individuated conception of degree of Master of Philosophy: University of Birmingham
Research Archive, e-theses repository). p. 42
language or the traditional notion of language in his rejection
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[9] Sapir, E. 1949. “Conceptual Categories in Primitive [16] Dehnel, P. 2015. “Wittgenstein and Conceptual Relativism”,
Languages”. Science 74: 578. Reprinted in D. Hymes (ed.), in Kanzian, C., Mitterer, K. Neges (eds.), Realism-Relativism-
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[17] Wang, X. 2009. “On Davidson’s Refutation of Conceptual
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[11] Kuhn, T. 1970. “Reflection on my Critics,” in I. Lakatos and [18] Davidson, D., 1986. “A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs,” in
A. Musgrave eds., Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge Truth and Interpretation: Perspectives on the Philosophy of
(Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.) p. 266-267. Donald Davidson, ed. Ernest Lepore, (Oxford: Basil
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[12] Quine, W., 1960. Word and Object, ed. by Beranek, L.,
Jakobson, R. and Locke, W. (USA: The technology press of [19] Dummett, M., 1986.“A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs: Some
the Massachussets Institute of Technology.) p. ix. Comments on Davidson and Hacking,” in Truth and
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