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Sophia on the web A Resource Guide for Philosophy Students Created by Jennifer Leslie Torgerson, MA This
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W. V. O. Quine 1908 – 2000 CE THE FUTURE OF ONTOLOGY AFTER
ONTOLOGICAL RELATIVITY by Jennifer Leslie Torgerson January 11, 2000 The American University Washington, D.C. 20016 ABSTRACT “You cannot step into the same river twice for different and again
different waters flow.” 1 This fragment of Heraclitus’ demonstrates
the problem of identity. Since all things are in an
universal flux, nothing can be the same from moment to moment. Every moment,
there is a new river, and the waters continue to flow. Order and regularity
were explained by Heraclitus as a result of the Logos, the cosmic ordering
principle. Hence, changes are measurable. The problem of identity that is
present within Heraclitus’ statement is that the river is a succession of
entities, each a new river, yet still river-like. Heraclitus had an
ontological commitment to the Logos, the ordering principle, and hence
escaped total chaos and confusion. Ontological commitments are very
important. Ontological commitment influences one’s entire philosophy. Ontological commitment influences one's
entire philosophy. This paper will examine the ontological commitment of W.V.
Quine. He is the most influential analytical
philosopher of the twentieth century. His view of ontological commitment
changed throughout his career, unfolding in three distinct periods. I will
examine the essays "On What There Is" and "Two Dogmas of
Empiricism" as examples of his early period; Word and Object is the
example used to illustrate the second; Web of Belief and Ontological
Relativity for the third. In his early period he claims that experience
counts against our beliefs, and that nothing can be systematically said about
sentences. He abandons the analytic-synthetic distinction. In his middle
period, this denial leads him to the indeterminacy of translation. There are
no objective facts about which the words, descriptions, or sentences have the
same meaning. The ontology of a theory is the range of things that must exist
if that theory is true. Quine holds that we can
state a theory of ontology only relative to a translation manual and a
background language. In his later period he mixes this with a hint of physicalism, which conflicts with his earlier view of nominalism, and his lack of dependence upon empirical
dogmas. It is in his earlier view that we see the most valuable Quine. I hope to make the river stand still. TABLE OF CONTENTS (only chapters 2 and 3 are published
on-line) ABSTRACT Chapter 1. THE RIVER STOOD STILL ·
Ontology: A Brief
Historical Overview ·
Meaning and Naming ·
Realism, Conceptualism, and Formalism ·
Phenomenalism and Physicalism ·
Four Kinds of Nominalism:
Predicate, Concept, Class, and Resemblance ·
Meaning is not Naming ·
Definition and Meaning ·
The Grounding of Analyticity in Semantic
Rules ·
Radical Reductionism in Empiricism and the
Problems with the Theory of Verification ·
The Two Dogmas of Empiricism 4. PREDICATION,
MEANING, AND ONTOLOGICAL RELATIVITY ·
Proxy Functions
and Indifference of Ontology 5. CAN PHILOSOPHY
OVERCOME ONTOLOGICAL RELATIVITY OR WILL ONTOLOGICAL RELATIVITY ELIMINATE
PHILOSOPHY? ·
The River
Revisited f
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a site maintained by his son (Douglas Boynton Quine). http://www.wvquine.org/wvq-about.html |
