The Themes of Quine's Philosophy

The Themes of Quine's Philosophy
Author: Edward Becker
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2012-06-28
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1139510657

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Willard Van Orman Quine's work revolutionized the fields of epistemology, semantics and ontology. At the heart of his philosophy are several interconnected doctrines: his rejection of conventionalism and of the linguistic doctrine of logical and mathematical truth, his rejection of the analytic/synthetic distinction, his thesis of the indeterminacy of translation and his thesis of the inscrutability of reference. In this book Edward Becker sets out to interpret and explain these doctrines. He offers detailed analyses of the relevant texts, discusses Quine's views on meaning, reference and knowledge, and shows how Quine's views developed over the years. He also proposes a new version of the linguistic doctrine of logical truth, and a new way of rehabilitating analyticity. His rich exploration of Quine's thought will interest all those seeking to understand and evaluate the work of one of the most important philosophers of the second half of the twentieth century.

Quine and Davidson on Language, Thought and Reality

Quine and Davidson on Language, Thought and Reality
Author: Hans-Johann Glock
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2003-02-27
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1139436732

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Quine and Davidson are among the leading thinkers of the twentieth century. Their influence on contemporary philosophy is second to none, and their impact is also strongly felt in disciplines such as linguistics and psychology. This book is devoted to both of them, but also questions some of their basic assumptions. Hans-Johann Glock critically scrutinizes their ideas on ontology, truth, necessity, meaning and interpretation, thought and language, and shows that their attempts to accommodate meaning and thought within a naturalistic framework, either by impugning them as unclear or by extracting them from physical facts, are ultimately unsuccessful. His discussion includes interesting comparisons of Quine and Davidson with other philosophers, particularly Wittgenstein, and also offers detailed accounts of central issues in contemporary analytic philosophy, such as the nature of truth and of meaning and interpretation, and the relation between thought and language.

Word and Object, new edition

Word and Object, new edition
Author: Willard Van Orman Quine
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 309
Release: 2013-01-25
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0262518317

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A new edition of Quine's most important work. Willard Van Orman Quine begins this influential work by declaring, "Language is a social art. In acquiring it we have to depend entirely on intersubjectively available cues as to what to say and when." As Patricia Smith Churchland notes in her foreword to this new edition, with Word and Object Quine challenged the tradition of conceptual analysis as a way of advancing knowledge. The book signaled twentieth-century philosophy's turn away from metaphysics and what Churchland calls the "phony precision" of conceptual analysis. In the course of his discussion of meaning and the linguistic mechanisms of objective reference, Quine considers the indeterminacy of translation, brings to light the anomalies and conflicts implicit in our language's referential apparatus, clarifies semantic problems connected with the imputation of existence, and marshals reasons for admitting or repudiating each of various categories of supposed objects. In addition to Churchland's foreword, this edition offers a new preface by Quine's student and colleague Dagfinn Follesdal that describes the never-realized plans for a second edition of Word and Object, in which Quine would offer a more unified treatment of the public nature of meaning, modalities, and propositional attitudes.

Quine on Meaning

Quine on Meaning
Author: Eve Gaudet
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 157
Release: 2006-02-15
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1847143156

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Willard Van Orman Quine was certainly the greatest analytic philosopher of the second half of the twentieth century. Born in 1908, he held the Edgar Pierce Chair of Philosophy at Harvard University from 1956 to 2000. He made highly important contributions to such areas as mathematical logic, set theory, the philosophy of language, and the philosophy of logic. His best known works include From a Logical Point of View, Ontological Relativity and Other Essays, and his most influential Word and Object. One of Quine's central doctrines is the 'indeterminacy of translation' - the assertion that there is no objective answer to the question of what someone means by any given sentence. This view was first put forward in Word and Object and was shocking enough to draw criticisms from other leading philosophers like Noam Chomsky and Richard Rorty. Eve Gaudet argues that these controversies stem partly from Quine's ambiguities and changes of mind, and partly from his readers' misunderstandings. Gaudet dissipates the confusion by examining afresh Quine's whole concept of 'a fact of the matter', and evaluating the contributions to the debate by Chomsky, Rorty, Friedman, Gibson and Follesdal in the light of her new interpretation. This is the first book devoted to a defence of Quine's indeterminacy of translation doctrine. Unlike many who conclude in Quine's favour, Gaudet adopts a critical and nuanced approach to Quine's texts, showing that Quine sometimes changed his positions and was not always as clear and consistent as many assume.

A Companion to W. V. O. Quine

A Companion to W. V. O. Quine
Author: Gilbert Harman
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 600
Release: 2014-01-28
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0470672102

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This Companion brings together a team of leading figures in contemporary philosophy to provide an in-depth exposition and analysis of Quine’s extensive influence across philosophy’s many subfields, highlighting the breadth of his work, and revealing his continued significance today. Provides an in-depth account and analysis of W.V.O. Quine’s contribution to American Philosophy, and his position as one of the late twentieth-century’s most influential analytic philosophers Brings together newly-commissioned essays by leading figures within contemporary philosophy Covers Quine’s work across philosophy of logic, philosophy of language, ontology and metaphysics, epistemology, and more Explores his work in relation to the origins of analytic philosophy in America, and to the history of philosophy more broadly Highlights the breadth of Quine’s work across the discipline, and demonstrates the continuing influence of his work within the philosophical community

Quine

Quine
Author: Peter Hylton
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 411
Release: 2007-08-07
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1134922701

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Quine was one of the foremost philosophers of the Twentieth century. In this outstanding overview of Quine's philosophy, Peter Hylton shows why Quine is so important and how his philosophical naturalism has been so influential within analytic philosophy. Beginning with an overview of Quine's philosophical background in logic and mathematics and the role of Rudolf Carnap's influence on Quine's thought, he goes on to discuss Quine's famous analytic-synthetic distinction and his arguments concerning the nature of the a priori. He also discusses Quine's philosophy of language and epistemology, his celebrated theory of the indeterminacy of translation and his broader views of ontology and modality. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in Quine, twentieth century philosophy and the philosophy of language.

Quine's views on meaning and translation as presented in his articles “Two Dogmas of Empiricism” and “Translation and Meaning”

Quine's views on meaning and translation as presented in his articles “Two Dogmas of Empiricism” and “Translation and Meaning”
Author: Svenja Christen
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Total Pages: 14
Release: 2016-10-27
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3668329826

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Essay from the year 2007 in the subject Philosophy - Philosophy of the 20th century, grade: 1, University of Southern Denmark, language: English, abstract: In this paper I will concentrate on Quine’s views on meaning and translation as presented in his articles “Two Dogmas of Empiricism” and “Translation and Meaning”. In the second chapter I will present his concepts related to the topic as presented in the two articles. In the third chapter I will deal with the American structuralism and compare the structuralists’ concepts with those of Quine. The final chapter will then be about the logical empiricism and Quine’s arguments against their concepts.

Working from Within

Working from Within
Author: Sander Verhaegh
Publisher:
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2018
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0190913150

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Working from Within examines the nature and development of W. V. Quine's naturalism, the view that philosophy ought to be continuous with science. Sander Verhaegh's reconstruction is based on a comprehensive study of Quine's personal and academic archives. Transcriptions of five unpublished papers, letters, and notes are included in the appendix.

Phenomenology, Logic, and the Philosophy of Mathematics

Phenomenology, Logic, and the Philosophy of Mathematics
Author: Richard L. Tieszen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2005-06-06
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0521837820

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In this 2005 book, logic, mathematical knowledge and objects are explored alongside reason and intuition in the exact sciences.

Quiddities

Quiddities
Author: W. V. QUINE
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2009-06-30
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0674042433

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The appellation polymath is often lightly bestowed, but it can be applied with confidence to the celebrated philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine. Quine's areas of interest are panoramic, as this lively book amply demonstrates. Moving from A (alphabet) to Z (zero), Quiddities roams through more than eighty topics, each providing a full measure of piquant thought, wordplay, and wisdom, couched in easy and elegant prose--Quine at his unbuttoned best, in Donald Davidson's words. Philosophy, language, and mathematics are the subjects most fully represented; tides of entries include belief, communication, free will, idiotisms, longitude and latitude, marks, prizes, Latin pronunciation, tolerance, trinity. Even the more technical entries are larded with homely lore, anecdote, and whimsical humor. Quiddities will be a treat for admirers of Quine and for others who like to think, who care about language, and who enjoy the free play of intellect on topics large and small. For this select audience, it is an ideal book for browsing.