Quintessence – Basic Readings from the Philosophy of W.V. Quine - Hardcover

Quine, W V

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674010485 ISBN 13: 9780674010482

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2004

Synopsis

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; naturalised 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.

About this title

About the Author

W. V. Quine was Edgard Pierce Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Harvard University. He is the author From Stimulus to Science and From a Logical Point of View, both from Harvard University Press. Roger F. Gibson, Jr., is Professor of Philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis. He is the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Quine and coeditor of Perspectives on Quine and Confessions of a Confirmed Extensionalist and Other Essays by W. V. Quine, also published by Harvard University Press.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674010485
• ISBN 13: 9780674010482
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384