奎因从早年起就主张一种行为主义,但这种行为主义必须通过分析语言、感觉材料、刺激与被刺激等概念来理解。对奎因而言,语言理解与翻译的问题集中反映了这些概念之间的交合关系。语言是一种社交性的技能,为了获得这种技能,我们不能不完全依赖于主体间通用的提示我们要说什么和什么时候说的信号。除了通过人们对社会交际中可见刺激的明显反应倾向,我们也不能以任何根据去核对语言的意义。奎因认为,从简单的交流到复杂的理解,体现出理论与意义的交互作用具有越来越高的普遍性,我们直接感知到的总是有意义构造的各种整体,它们只有在共同认知与理解的意义上才能被视为行为证据。个体性并不是认知的出发点,我们恰恰必须基于共同体的一致性才能给出个体化的确认。 Quinn has advocated a kind of behaviorism from an early age, but this kind of behaviorism must be understood by analyzing the concepts of language, sensory material, stimulation and stimulation. For Quinn, the issue of language comprehension and translation concentrates on the intersection of these concepts. Language is a social skill. In order to acquire such a skill, we can not but rely entirely on signals common to subjects that prompt us what we want to say and when we say it. Apart from the obvious tendency of people to react to the stimuli visible in social communication, we can not check the meaning of the language on any basis. Quinn argues that from simple communication to complex understanding, it shows that the interaction between theory and meaning is more and more universal. What we directly perceive are all kinds of structures that are always constructed in a meaningful way. Only when they are jointly recognized Knowledge and understanding can be seen as evidence of behavior. Individuality is not the starting point of cognition, we must be based on the unity of the community to give individualized confirmation.