Final answer:
The 'gavagai' problem is a philosophical challenge related to the indeterminacy of translation, introduced by Willard Van Orman Quine. It concerns the uncertainty in translating words without context and exemplifies the difficulty in understanding the mental states of speakers from different linguistic backgrounds.
Step-by-step explanation:
What is the problem referred to as the 'gavagai' problem? This issue arises in the context of philosophy of language and cognitive science and is closely associated with the work of the philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine. The 'gavagai' problem, also known as Quine's indeterminacy of translation, is a philosophical question about the nature of meaning and translation. It underscores the difficulty of determining what a word stands for without access to a speaker's mental state. When Quine discussed this problem, he imagined a scenario in which a linguist tries to translate a word ('gavagai') uttered by a native speaker of an unknown language in response to a rabbit scurrying by. Without additional context, it's impossible to know whether 'gavagai' refers to the rabbit, the action of running, the color or shape of the rabbit, or an entirely different concept. This illustrates the challenge of interpretation and the uncertainty inherent in translating words across languages, raising questions about the possibility of truly understanding another's thought processes.