Quintessence: Basic Readings from the Philosophy of W. V. Quine

Willard Van Orman Quine

Harvard University Press, May 27, 2004 - Philosophy - 416 pages

Through the first half of the twentieth century, analytic philosophy was dominated by Russell, Wittgenstein, and Carnap. Influenced by Russell and especially by Carnap, another towering figure, Willard Van Orman Quine (1908–2000) emerged as the most important proponent of analytic philosophy during the second half of the century. Yet with twenty-three books and countless articles to his credit—including, most famously, Word and Object and "Two Dogmas of Empiricism"—Quine remained a philosopher's philosopher, largely unknown to the general public.

Quintessence for the first time collects Quine's classic essays (such as "Two Dogmas" and "On What There Is") in one volume—and thus offers readers a much-needed introduction to his general philosophy. Divided into six parts, the thirty-five selections take up analyticity and reductionism; the indeterminacy of translation of theoretical sentences and the inscrutability of reference; ontology; naturalized epistemology; philosophy of mind; and extensionalism. Representative of Quine at his best, these readings are fundamental not only to an appreciation of the philosopher and his work, but also to an understanding of the philosophical tradition that he so materially advanced.

Contents

• Truth by Convention: 3
• IV: 22
• Two Dogmas of Empiricism: 31
• Two Dogmas in Retrospect: 54
• Carnap and Logical Truth: 64
• Speaking of Objects: 91
• Reference: 109
• Translation and Meaning: 119
• Progress on Two Fronts: 169
• On What There Is: 177
• The Scope and Language of Science: 193
• On Simple Theories of a Complex World: 210
• Things and Their Place in Theories: 229
• On Carnaps Views on Ontology: 249
• EPISTEMOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY OF MIND: 257
• Epistemology Naturalized: 259
• Naturalism or Living within Ones Means: 275
• The Nature of Natural Knowledge: 287
• Five Milestones of Empiricism: 301
• On Mental Entities: 307
• Mind and Verbal Dispositions: 313
• EXTENSIONALISM: 327
• Confessions of a Confirmed Extensionalist: 329
• Quantifiers and Propositional Attitudes: 338
• Intensions Revisited: 350
• Reference and Modality: 360
• Three Grades of Modal Involvement: 379
• Credits: 399
• Index: 405

Bibliographic information

• Title: Quintessence: Basic Readings from the Philosophy of W. V. Quine
• Author: Willard Van Orman Quine
• Editor: Roger F. Gibson
• Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2004
• ISBN: 0674010485, 9780674010482
• Length: 416 pages
• Subjects: Philosophy / General; Philosophy / History & Surveys / Modern; Philosophy / Logic; Philosophy / Metaphysics