Willard V.O. Quine profile picture

Willard V.O. Quine

About Me

..I suppose that some would hold me to be the most influential analytical philosopher since Wittgenstein, to whom we all owe a great debt. I, however, think that this is remarkable, given that I was simply approaching things from a logical point of view. I have expressed my opinions as to where this point of view takes us, such as in our ontological commitments, the way logic and language work together, empiricism, of which I am a great champion, paradox, mathematical logic, translation, and in other subjects. I enjoy the works of Donald Davidson and Michael Dummett, Searle and others, even if I don't agree with most of what they have to say, Davidson perhaps being the exception.


I am sorry friends, but I only visit here biweekly.

Stop Oil Speculation Now | S.O.S. NOW
http://capwiz.com/sosnow/issues/alert/?alertid=115...

My Interests

I'd like to meet:

Luckily, I lived at a very full time in the history of philosophy, and met most of those whom I would have liked to have met, although I would hold no objections to meeting the ancients, except it being a seeming impossibility in our current ontological framework, but perhaps not.

My Blog

A short aside

The study of language has some advantages in philosophy because there are a few rigid definers in language as a rule-based practice in some regards. For example, it is very difficult to argue the caus...
Posted by on Tue, 20 Nov 2007 22:22:00 GMT

Is absolute validation of even a single epistemological Truth possible

A reply to a journal posting by Egg Spurt.  Please note that this is somewhat out of context here, so you may want to personally visit his/her blog and read the "Post Mortem of Reality Pt. 1" pos...
Posted by on Tue, 14 Nov 2006 05:07:00 GMT

Brief comment on quantitative sociology/Lazarsfeld

Thanks to Zimozimo for raising the issue . . . I've blogged my response to his query here.  Also, I must say I am quite disgusted that "Religion and Philosophy" is a single category for MySpace b...
Posted by on Thu, 09 Nov 2006 11:16:00 GMT

Contra Foundationalism

I am sure you are familiar with the Foundationalist regress. I see Foundationalists primary concerned with refuting the arguments of Holists, since most would say I am firmly committed to Holism. Whi...
Posted by on Mon, 07 Aug 2006 16:12:00 GMT

Goldbach's Conjecture

Khuno Date: Aug 7, 2006 11:49 AM Subject: RE: No Subject Body: Your question is rather vague, so let me try to feel it out. Are you suggesting that there is, in theory, no possible way of d...
Posted by on Mon, 07 Aug 2006 11:51:00 GMT

What a clever young man!

: Jon Date: Jul 12, 2006 4:18 PM Subject: RE: Hey Van Body: My Dear John, You are percisely correct on all accounts, and if you'll note my typos, you will see I still cannot use a computer...
Posted by on Wed, 12 Jul 2006 16:08:00 GMT

I thought I solved this problem back in 1951

JasonWrote: Physical science is for the most part inductive and NOT deductive ---and ultimately the inductive is less authoritative than the deductive in regard to ontological and epistemic matte...
Posted by on Thu, 29 Jun 2006 14:23:00 GMT

WVOQ's random friend request reply:

Perhaps you don't know that I am an eminent philosopher of language, having lectured and taught in the top universities in the United States, published dozens of texts on language, logic, and mathemat...
Posted by on Tue, 20 Jun 2006 06:07:00 GMT

Have these deconstructionists ever created a computer program that works?

As I glace through the pages of MySpace profiles, I am deeply disturbed that people would abandon the process of scientific reasoning, argue that deduction is an invalid way to argue, and that words s...
Posted by on Mon, 19 Jun 2006 09:49:00 GMT