The Themes of Quine’s Philosophy: Meaning, Reference, and Knowledge

332 Pages·2012·1.781 MB·English

by  Edward Becker

THE THEMES OF QUINE’S PHILOSOPHY
WillardVanOrmanQuine’sworkrevolutionizedthefieldsofepistemol-
ogy,semantics, andontology.Attheheartof hisphilosophyareseveral
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;andhisthesisoftheinscrutabilityofreference.Inthisbook
EdwardBeckersetsouttointerpretandexplainthesedoctrines.Heoffers
detailedanalysesoftherelevanttexts,discussesQuine’sviewsonmean-
ing,reference,andknowledge, andshowshowQuine’sviewsdeveloped
overtheyears.Healsoproposesanewversionofthelinguisticdoctrine
of logical truth, and a new way of rehabilitating analyticity. His rich
exploration of Quine’s thought will interest all those seeking to under-
standandevaluatetheworkofoneofthemostimportantphilosophers
ofthesecondhalfofthetwentiethcentury.
edward becker isAssociateProfessorofPhilosophyattheUniversity
ofNebraska,Lincoln.

THE THEMES OF QUINE’S
PHILOSOPHY
Meaning, Reference, and Knowledge
EDWARD F. BECKER
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Becker,EdwardF.
ThethemesofQuine’sphilosophy:meaning,reference,andknowledge/EdwardF.Becker.
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ISBN978-1-107-01523-4(Hardback)
1. Quine,W.V.(WillardVanOrman) 2. Analysis(Philosophy) I. Title.
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To my daughters
Julia Becker and Evelyn Jerman

CONTENTS
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiv
1 Conventionalism and the linguistic doctrine
of logical truth 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Conventionalismin“TruthbyConvention” 6
1.3 Conventionalismin“CarnapandLogicalTruth” 49
1.4 Thelinguisticdoctrineoflogicaltruth 58
2 Analyticity and synonymy 68
2.1 Analyticityandsynonymyin“TwoDogmas” 69
2.2 AnalyticityandsynonymyinWordandObject 95
2.3 AnalyticityandsynonymyafterWordandObject 109
3 The indeterminacy of translation 122
3.1 Thecontentoftheindeterminacythesis 122
3.2 Theargumentsforindeterminacy 139
4 Ontological relativity 157
4.1 Ontologicalrelativityandtheinscrutabilityofreference 157
4.2 Argumentsfortheinscrutabilityofreference 158
4.3 Puzzlesaboutontologicalrelativity 167
4.4 Resolvingthepuzzles 180
4.5 ChangesinQuine’spositionafter“OntologicalRelativity” 216
5 Criticisms and extensions 230
5.1 Twocriticisms 230
5.2 One-wordsentencesandtheinscrutabilityofreference 235
5.3 Observationsentencesandcollateralinformation 244
5.4 Synonymyandstimulussynonymy 248
5.5 Proxyfunctionsanddeferredostension 254
5.6 Non-observationaltermsandlogicalwords 260
vii
viii contents
5.7 Prospectsforradicaltranslation 270
5.8 Towardrehabilitatinganalyticityandthelinguisticdoctrine 280
Concludingremarks:conventionalismandimplications 300
Bibliography 305
Index 310