From a Logical Point of View: Nine Logico-Philosophical Essays, Second Revised Edition

by Willard Van Orman Quine

Book Overview

These nine essays are largely concerned with the theory of meaning and references--semantics. At the same time adjacent portions of philosophy and logic are discussed. To the existence of what objects may a given scientific theory be said to be committed? And what considerations may suitably guide us in accepting or revising such ontological commitments? These are among the questions dealt with in this book, particular attention being devoted to the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674323513
• ISBN13: 9780674323513
• Release Date: May 1980
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Universals, dogmas, useful myths, efficacy in communication

The philosophical issues treated in this book are very important indeed. In fact, they explain nothing less than what really exists in our universe and how mankind can deal with this universe through pragmatism (language). On What There Is Universals of bound variables (e.g., redness) are useful myths. They don't exist really (they are not there). Physical conceptual schemes simplify our accounts of experience, because myriad scattered sense events come to be associated with simple so-called objects. Two Dogmas of Empiricism There is no fundamental cleavage between analytic (grounded on meanings independent of fact) and synthetic (grounded in fact) truths. The truth of a statement cannot be split into a linguistic and a factual component. Reductionism, the theory that each meaningful statement is equivalent to some logical construct upon terms which refer to immediate experience, is a dogma. The unit of empirical significance is the whole of science. Reductionism is only pragmatic. The Problem of Meaning in Linguistics This text treats the problem of significant sequences (phonemes and morphemes) in speech and the notion of synonymy. Identity, Ostension and Hypostasis Concepts in an unconceptualized reality are not more than language. Their purpose is pragmatic. The ultimate duty of language, science and philosophy is efficacy in communication and prediction. New Foundations In this text, Quine reduces the logical foundations of Russell's Principia Mathematica to a three-fold logic of propositions, classes and relations: membership (x is a member of y), alternative denial (a statement is false if and only if both constituent statements are true) and universal quantification (a prefix of a variable). Reification of Universals Quantification is a criterion of ontological commitment: an entity (a value) is presupposed by a theory if and only if it is needed among the values of the bound variables in order to make the statements affirmed in the true theory. Notes on the Theory of Reference In this text Quine explains Tarski's solution for the paradoxes in the theory of reference (e.g., the liar paradox). Reference and Modality In this text, Quine gives comments on the theory of reference and modal contexts (e.g., possibility, necessity). Meaning and Existential Inference In this essay, Quine treats the difficulties arising out of the distinction between meaning and reference, logical truth and singular terms. Although the problems (and the reasoning behind them) are not always easy to understand for the layman, Quine's language is exceptionally clear (an example for all true philosophers). These essays are a must for all those interested in philosophy and for all those who want to understand the world we live in.

Shipped/Delivered Promptly and the Book is Great

Quine is very concise and fun to read. Most works of philosophy are dry and 'boring', pushing readers to read very little, put the book down, and never return to reading it. Quine breaks the mold; he is exciting, to-the-point, and illuminating.

a classic

in deed indeed, an outstanding classic -- and not only for insiders. the title does tell the tale: one need only have an interest in the topic.

Worth the cost for the first two essays alone.

This collection is worth the price simply for "On What There Is" and "Two Dogmas of Empiricism" alone. "The Problem of Meaning in Linguistics" is a gem that (along with the last six essays) is too often overlooked, simply because it occurs after the above two (notorious) essays. If you do not own this book, then you cannot be someone who works in the contemporary, post-positivist philosophy of language.

Metaphysics is dead! - long live the conceptual scheme!

With this book, Quine bursts onto the scene of analytical philosophy with claims the boldness and insight of which dealt a deadly strike to the orthodoxy of logical positivism. Being published for the first time in 1953, From a Logical Point of View followed hot on the heels of Wittgenstein's Philosophische Untersuchungen and although it's approach is quite different from that of Wittgestein's work, it has received less attention than P.U. Quine's arguments are transparent and yet very substancial in their claims. Better than anyone before or after him Quine realised that the rejection of traditional metaphysics has much graver consequences than it was imagined by the logical positivists. Quine tries to reconcile empiricism with metaphysics-criticism through a pragmatic view of the theory of reality. The result; - the conceptual scheme, is a fasinating and extremely controversial idea, but it has changed the face of metaphysics and epistemology forever. Long since philosophical classics, the essays "On What There Is" and "Two Dogmas of Empiricism" are still the best and most readable expositions of the views, which saw Quine elavate theoretical philosophy to a level of thinking, of which it still benefits tremendously.