The author compares the philosophies of Quine and Wittgenstein, seeing how their holistic views of the world coincide. She argues that though they are allied in their sceptism about the possibilities for the assimilation of semantic and psychological concepts to those of the natural sciences and while they are both hostile to a Platonist conception of meaning, they are divided in their views, because of their different interpretations of holism. The conclusion reached is that Wittgenstein's visions of the interdependence of concepts, interests and activities are superior to Quine's epistemology because Wittgenstein's idea of different "forms of life" can free the reader from the conception of "fact" which is implicit in Quine's work and from the unintelligible scepticism about meaning which that conception brings with it.
Sprache
Verlagsort
Verlagsgruppe
Zielgruppe
Für höhere Schule und Studium
Für Beruf und Forschung
Maße
Höhe: 229 mm
Breite: 152 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-0-631-14591-2 (9780631145912)
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Schweitzer Klassifikation
Part 1: varieties of realism; minimal realism; reflecting on minimal realism; realism, idealism and empericism; realism, relativism and intersubjectivity. Part 2 Instrumentation and meaning of scepticism; Quine's arguments for the indeterminacy of translation; setting up a predictive sentence machine; indeterminacy of function and meaning; instrumentalism and the revisability of logic. Part 3 Quine's naturalized empiricism: Quine's epistemology; ontological relativity and disquotation; Quine's version of realism; should empiricism be naturalized?. Part 4 The Mona Lisa mosaic: semantic holism; holism and indeterminacy - the mosaic analogy; holism, indeterminacy and language; can we restore determinacy?. Part 5 The slide into the abyss: the incompatibility of realism and meaning of scepticism; thoroughgoing pragmatism; Wittgenstein and pragmatism; empiricism and Platonism. Part 6 The dissolving mirror: Wittgenstein's hostility to mirroring realism; explanation and the absolute conception; Kripke and norms. Part 7 Interpretations and misinterpretations: speech acts and language games; Wittgenstein and anti-realism. Part 8 Interests, activities and meanings: proof and new concepts; conceptual change and determinacy of sense; other forms of life?; modal realism; facts about meaning.
