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

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

by W. V. Quine (Author), Roger F. Gibson Jr. (Editor)

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; 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.

$39.41

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 432
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 06 May 2008

ISBN 10: 0674027558
ISBN 13: 9780674027558

Media Reviews
Specialists... will be grateful for this well-modulated selection of Quine's most important essays and articles, which reflect his thinking up to the end of his life. - Leon H. Brody, Library Journal
Author Bio
W. V. Quine was Edgar Pierce Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University. He wrote twenty-one books, thirteen of them published by 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.