Cover photo

Willard Van Orman Quine 1908-2000

  • A System of Logistic

    A System of Logistic
    A System of Logistics is a revised publication of W.V. Quine’s doctoral thesis from his Ph. D. in Philosophy at Harvard University. The dissertation was on “Principia Mathematica” by Mathematicians Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russel about the framework of mathematics. In his thesis, Quine proposes the introduction of the notion of predication. Quine’s suggestion creates Philosophical issues at the base of mathematics, especially regarding the rule of concretion.
  • Mathematical Logic

    Mathematical Logic
    In "Mathematical Logic," Quine is able to prove the existence of Gödel's Theorem of undecidable propositions. Quine tackles subjects such as propositional calculus, the theory of quantification, and theory of classes with identity and description. In the future, there will be several issues regarding Quine's proposals, and revisions will be made. Such criticisms were the admission of the Burali-Forti paradox and had inconsistencies in the paradox's circumstances versus what remains unaffected.
  • Two Dogmas of Empiricism

    Two Dogmas of Empiricism
    “Two Dogmas of Empiricism” is an article written by Quine as a rebuttal against Rudolf Carnap. Quine touched on two dogmas of empiricism: analytic-synthetic distinction and reductionist. The analytic-synthetic distinction struck the crowd of analytic philosophy for the best. “for all its a priori reasonableness, a boundary between analytic and synthetic statement has not been drawn. That there is such a distinction to be drawn at all is an un-empirical dogma of empiricists.”
  • Ontological Relativity

    Ontological Relativity
    Quine gives his thoughts regarding ontological relativity; creating a structure to the scientific method. He states objects can be substituted with other pronouns as long as it is consistent and is exchanged on a one-to-one ratio He uses an example of the sentence “This rabbit is white.” Quine says you can say, “The proxy of this rabbit is the proxy of something white.” Since “proxy” is a 1:1 ratio, this rabbit will be white if only if its proxy is the proxy of something white.