The Themes of Quine’s Philosophy: Meaning, Reference, and Knowledge PDF
Preview The Themes of Quine’s Philosophy: Meaning, Reference, and Knowledge
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 cambridge university press Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown, Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,MexicoCity CambridgeUniversityPress TheEdinburghBuilding,CambridgeCB28RU,UK PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107015234 #EdwardBecker2012 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithout thewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2012 PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Becker,EdwardF. ThethemesofQuine’sphilosophy:meaning,reference,andknowledge/EdwardF.Becker. pages cm ISBN978-1-107-01523-4(Hardback) 1. Quine,W.V.(WillardVanOrman) 2. Analysis(Philosophy) I. Title. B945.Q54B432012 191–dc23 2011051362 ISBN978-1-107-01523-4Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredto inthispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate. 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
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