A modest critique of quines web of belief the electric. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves. Quines view of a system, network or web of beliefs is at one piece with his criticism of the analyticsynthetic dichotomy. According to quine s influential holistic account, logic is central in the web of belief that comprises our overall theory of the world. Web of belief forming new beliefs immediate observations. Quine on empiricism university of california, davis. In practical philosophyethics and political philosophyhis contributions are negligible. With extraordinary panache, he painted a largescale picture of human nature, of language and of the web of belief. The metaphor that quine uses to explain the nature of science it that of a circular rug, woven from its interior outward, to its, um, uttermost tether. Each of us has a web of belief in that our beliefs are interconnected and rely on each other. Dec 22, 2012 the web of belief is the title of a book by the analytical philosophers willard quine and joseph ullian, written before the advent of that major vehicle for circulating beliefs, the worldwide web, the web of extravagant beliefs. K quine is edgar pierce w professor of philosophy, emeritus, at harvard university. Ullian and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Each of us has a web of belief in that our beliefs are interconnected and.
Other readers will always be interested in your opinion of the books youve read. Quine is also famous for the view that epistemology should be naturalized, that is conducted. Here are the most recent writings, some of them unpublished, of the preeminent philosopher of our time. Contemporary american naturalism originates in the writings of quine, the metaphysician of twentiethcentury science. The themes of naturalism, confirmational holism, and ontological relativity are discussed in detail, along with the indispensability argument for the truth of mathematical theories and the existence of mathematical objects. A modest critique of quines web of belief the electric agora. Some of ones beliefs are at length surrendered not through just being crowded out and forgotten, but through being found to conflict with other beliefs, new ones perhaps, whose credentials seem superior. Quines argument for this thesis if there is one is indirect. The web of belief is beautifully written for a general audience, especially high schoolers, clearly its target audience. Among my concerns is that im not sure how it connects with quine or, by extension, my essay. Hank talks about some philosophy stuff, like a few of the key concepts philosophers use when discussing belief and. Clare batty quine, quantifiers and propositional attitudes 1. Willard van orman quine 19082000 worked in theoretical philosophy and in logic.
Yet even though quine has always been a scienceminded philosopher, he did not adopt a fully. Bealer, george 1996 on the possibility of philosophical knowledge. Panu raatikainen i although quine is widely known as an influential critic of logical positivism, there is now a growing tendency to emphasize the similarities between him and the logical positivists of the vienna circle. Quine, mathematician and philosopher including list of books, articles, dissertations, essays, students, and travels. This article focuses on quine s positive views and their bearing on the philosophy of mathematics. Ullian, year1970 introduction belief and change of belief observation selfevidence testimony hypothesis induction, analogy, and intuition confirmation and refutation explanation persuasion. June 25, 1908 december 25, 2000 known to intimates as van was an american philosopher and logician in the analytic tradition, recognized as one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century. Willard van orman quine was an american philosopher and logician in the analytic tradition. Home page for willard van orman quine, mathematician and philosopher including list of books, articles, essays, students, and travels. Quines web of belief is basically an outdated textbook. The thesis of ontological relativity that ontology what exists is relative is only intelligible if one first understands quine s arguments for the indeterminacy of translation, presented in great detail in his book, word and object, and rehearsed briefly in the early sections of ontological relativity. Philosophical reflections on language are brought to bear upon metaphysical and epistemological questions such as these. The web of belief is the title of a book by the analytical philosophers willard quine and joseph ullian, written before the advent of that major vehicle for circulating beliefs, the worldwide web, the web of extravagant beliefs. And one apparent consequence of it is that ultimately every belief mathematical and logical beliefs included is revisable in light of empirical evidence.
Of mice and men follows him toward a difficult realization that the world is designed to prey on the weak. Quine is critical of peirces notion of truth, his belief in nearer than, his belief in scientific method. The dogma of analyticity is based on the belief that the truth of a statement can be resolved into linguistic and extralinguistic facts. Im talking about belief revision in the web in the way quine does. Stop taking quinine and call your doctor at once if you have headache with chest pain and severe dizziness, fast or pounding heartbeats, unusual bruising or bleeding nosebleeds, bleeding gums, purple or red spots under your skin, signs of infection fever, chills, mouth sores, severe lower. The distinction between metaphysics and science blurs. Natural knowledge, quine writes of those of us who look upon. Among his many books and articles are web of belief, pursuit of truth, word and object, roots of reference and set theory and its logic. Harvard university press, 1981 philosophy 219 pages. For fifty years, willard van orman quine s books and articles have stimulated intense debate in the fields of logic and the philosophy of language. Phys objs exist descartes architectural metaphor mind. Quine s extensionalism according to quine s extensionalism, what matters about the meaning of certain expressions can be.
In the face of recalcitrant experience, ultimately pragmatic choices must be made. Whether youve loved the book or not, if you give your honest and detailed thoughts then people will find new books that are right for them. Before describing that, it is worth briefly comparing quine s general outlook with that of those who shared it most. In this paper, i examine quine s views on the epistemology of logic. According to this theory, our beliefs are a kind of web, in which each individual statement depends on other statements.
Body web metaphor quines tree branches world of experience web attachments observation sentences what do you see. American analytic philosopher and logician whose major writings, including word and object, concern issues of language and. Quine, on what there is, the analytic tradition, spring 2017. Our statements about the external world face the tribunal of sense experience not individually but only as a corporate body 41.
The web of belief refers to how the totality of a persons beliefs interconnected and form a single coherent view of reality. Quine makes the countersuggestion is a holistic thesis found in duhem. As we learn new things, we change those statements that are no longer tenable and. A system of logistic by willard van orman quine pdf. I next consider quines conception of language as carrying existential. There is no distinction between analytic and synthetic statements, it is more of a belief in them. Dagfinn follesdal, hao wang, hugues leblanc, henry hiz and george myro. Willard van orman quine by individual philosopher philosophy. Calling a belief a hypothesis says nothing as to what the belief is about, how firmly it is held, or how well founded it.
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. Quines conception of empirical confirmation or rational theory change the web of belief. Quine s conception of empirical confirmation or rational theory change the web of belief. How applicable are the books insights to the hypertextual worlds of wikipedia, social media, twitter and blogging.
Theories and things willard van orman quine snippet view 1981. Ullian, year1970 introduction belief and change of belief observation selfevidence testimony hypothesis induction, analogy, and intuition confirmation and. They also include the books the web of belief, which advocates a kind of coherentism, and word and object. His interest in science is not best described as a philosophy of science but as a set of reflections on the nature of science that is pursued with the same empirical spirit that animates scientific inquiry. George, for instance, has argued that the introduction of empathy undermines. Many scholars in fact, regard quine as the greatest living englishspeaking philosopher. But it is also an expression of quines thought about belief and how to make our beliefs clearer. Philosophical and empirical knowledge in the program of naturalism1. Hao wang, hugues leblanc, henry hiz and george myro. The radical translator, as in quines standard account, constructs a manual.
For quine, scientific thought forms a coherent web in which any part could be altered in the light of empirical evidence, and in which no empirical evidence could force the revision of a given part. If playback doesnt begin shortly, try restarting your device. Body web metaphor quine s tree branches world of experience web attachments observation sentences what do you see. Quine, naturalised meaning and empathy argumenta journal of. Quine on convention this paper examines quines web of belief metaphor and its role in his various responses to conventionalism. Choosing a college inexpensive, good academic reputation. Quine 19082000 did not conceive of philosophy as an activity separate from the general province of empirical science. Willard van orman quine 19082000 worked in theoretical philosophy. George as the logical structure of the world, london. Willard van orman quine 19082000 was an american philosopher and logician who taught at harvard university, and wrote many books such as word and object,from a logical point of view.
From this incident george learned the moral lesson that it is wrong to take advantage of the weak. Quines extensionalism according to quines extensionalism, what matters about the meaning of certain expressions can be. Includes links to other willard van orman quine internet resources as well as to other family web sites by douglas boynton quine. He says that the phrase round square cupola is meaningless. Berkeley, george 1950, the principles of human knowledge everymans library. The best way to understand quines thesis of the indeterminacy of translation is via the naturalistic empiricism that motivates it. Underdetermination, realism, and transcendental metaphysics in. But the wily wyman chooses other horn of the dilemma and concedes that it is nonsense to say that the round square cupola on berkeley college is not. Willard van orman quine stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. Wymans slum of possiblea is a breeding ground for disorderly elements. Nearer than is all right with numbers, not with theories. Ill spell this out in a moment, but hopefully confirmation holism will sound a familiar bell since, in defending it, quine invokes his famous metaphor of a web of belief. However, in an appendix to his influential article on second order logic, george boolos offered an ingenious argument that seems to diminish quine s account of logical truth on a deeper level.
They also include the books the web of belief, which advocates a kind of. Depending upon how many revisions to the web one is willing to tolerate, one can always make changes either at the periphery or in the interior of the web. At the start of the novella, george is something of an idealist. Quine s philosophy is the continuation of british empiricism by other means. It begins with his views concerning the relationship between scientific theories and experiential evidence his holism, and relate these to his views on the evidence for the existence of objects his criterion of ontological commitment, his naturalism, and his indispensability arguments. Read, highlight, and take notes, across web, tablet, and phone.
Hilary putnam on the philosophy of logic and mathematics. Inferred beliefs hypotheses conjectures that go beyond observations. Much that we know does not count as science, but this is often less due to its subject matter than to its arrangement. The chapter presents a largely sympathetic account of w. Ullian a compact, coherent introduction to the study of rational belief, this text provides points of entry to such areas of philosophy as theory of knowledge, methodology of science, and philosophy of language. Quine has recently emphasized that when he ascribes obviousness to classical logic he is not. Ullian the web of belief mcgrawhill humanitiessocial scienceslanguages. For the academic year 19641965, quine was a fellow on the faculty in the center for advanced studies at wesleyan university. Linguistic behaviour is a natural phenomenon to be understood by the methods that we apply to other natural phenomena like stars, rivers and animals. He is perhaps best known for his arguments against logical empiricism in particular, against its use of the analyticsynthetic distinction. Quine never entertained the thought that science can offer the ultimate and unchangeable truth. Quine synonyms, quine pronunciation, quine translation, english dictionary definition of quine. Wyman was not the first to embrace this altern ative.
Naturalism naturalism, it has been said, is the distinctive development in philosophy over the last thirty years. It is naturalized epistemology, but also naturalized metaphysics, even if quine did not. Networks in contemporary philosophy of science philsciarchive. After all, on quine s view we simply revise the web of belief in response to recalcitrant experience, and so the suggestion that there are multiple possible revisions of the web available in response to any particular evidential finding just is the claim that there are in fact many different theories i. What does it mean to assume objects, concrete and abstract. I learn about the virtues in hypothesis, quine lists conservatism, modesty, simplicity, generalization, refutability and precision for any hypothesis. Pure mathematical and logical formulas empirical statements.
History of analytic philosophy and early quines place within it. This book provides the first major explication and defense of quine s systematic philosophy and. There has been a naturalistic turn away from the a priori methods of traditional philosophy to a conception of philosophy as continuous with natural science. Incorporating updated notations, selective answers to exercises, expanded treatment of natural deduction, and new discussions of predicate functor logic and the affinities between higher set theory and the elementary logic of terms, quine s new edition will serve admirably both for classroom and for. Quine is arguably the intellectual father of contemporary naturalism, the idea that there is no distinctively philosophical perspective on reality. Willard van orman quine home page by douglas boynton quine. Quinine can cause serious side effects on your heart, kidneys, or blood cells. Quine came up with the theory of the web of belief. It offends the aesthetic sense of us who have a taste for desert landscapes, but this is not the worst of it.