This essay explores Quine’s concept of truth. Quine substitutes radical translation for translation which aims to preserve ‘meaning’. Although radical translation does not always preserve truth value, much less meaning, truth is nevertheless very much in view in the practice of radical translation. Meaning, as preserved by radical interpretation, is needed to apply our truth predicate to any speech but our own, and we need truth to understand meaning. Such basic relations between truth and meaning are incompatible with a deflationary attitude toward the concept of truth.
Keywords: Quine, concept of truth, language, meaning