Confessions of a Confirmed Extensionalist and Other Essays

536 Pages·2008·11.352 MB·English

by  Willard Van Orman Quine, Dagfinn Follesdal (editor), Douglas Boynton Quine (editor)

Confessionsof aConfirmedExtensionalist
andOtherEssays
Confessions of a Confirmed
Extensionalist
and Other Essays
W. V. Quine
Editedby
DagfinnFøllesdal
DouglasB.Quine
HarvardUniversityPress
Cambridge,Massachusetts
London,England
2008
Copyright©2008bythePresidentandFellowsofHarvardCollege
Allrightsreserved
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Quine,W.V.(WillardVanOrman)
Confessionsofaconfirmedextensionalistandotheressays/W.V.Quine;editedbyDagfinn
Føllesdal,DouglasB.Quine.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN-13:978-0-674-03084-8(alk.paper)
1. Philosophy. I.Føllesdal,Dagfinn. II.Quine,DouglasB.,1950- III.Title.
B29.Q552008
191—dc22 2008010061
Tothestudentsof Quine:
past,present,andfuture

Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
I PreviouslyUnpublishedArticles
1 Nominalism(1946) 7
2 OntheNotionof anAnalyticStatement(1946) 24
3 LecturesonDavidHume’sPhilosophy(1946) 36
4 TheImportanceof LogicforPhilosophy(1947) 137
5 WhereLogicIsGoing(1947) 148
6 AnimadversionsontheNotionof Meaning(1949) 152
7 TheEntangledPhilosophiesof Mathematics(1950) 157
8 Meaning(1959) 163
9 TheWaytheWorldIs(1986) 166
10 PressingExtensionality(1992) 172
11 TheInnateFoundationalEndowments(1996) 176
12 TheGrowthof MindandLanguage(1997) 182
II PreviouslyPublishedArticles
13 RelationsandReason(1939) 195
14 OntheReasonsforIndeterminacyof Translation(1970) 209
viii Contents
15 MethodologicalReflectionsonCurrent
LinguisticTheory(1970) 215
16 OnEmpiricallyEquivalentSystemsof theWorld(1975) 228
17 MindandVerbalDispositions(1975) 244
18 TheNatureof NaturalKnowledge(1975) 257
19 Factsof theMatter(1977) 271
20 CognitiveMeaning(1979) 287
21 Grammar,Truth,andLogic(1980) 303
22 OntologyandIdeologyRevisited(1983) 315
23 RelativismandAbsolutism(1984) 319
24 Statesof Mind(1985) 323
25 TheSensorySupportof Science(1986) 327
26 PanelonReference(1986) 338
27 Indeterminacyof TranslationAgain(1987) 341
28 Mind,Brain,andBehavior(1989) 347
29 TheElusivenessof Reference(1990) 352
30 ThePhoneme’sLongShadow(1990) 364
31 ThreeIndeterminacies(1990) 368
32 PrefacetoTheLogicofSequences(1990) 387
33 TwoDogmasinRetrospect(1991) 390
34 StructureandNature(1992) 401
35 CommensurabilityandtheAlienMind(1992) 407
36 InPraiseof ObservationSentences(1993) 409
37 Truth(1994) 420
38 PromotingExtensionality(1994) 438
39 IndeterminacywithoutTears(1994) 447
Contents ix
40 AssumingObjects(1994) 449
41 Naturalism;Or,LivingwithinOne’sMeans(1995) 461
42 ProgressonTwoFronts(1996) 473
43 TheFloweringof ThoughtinLanguage(1997) 478
44 I,You,andIt:AnEpistemologicalTriangle(1999) 485
45 ThreeNetworks:Similarity,Implication,
andMembership(2000) 493
46 Confessionsof aConfirmedExtensionalist(2001) 498
Credits 507
Index 513