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

Quine, W V

ISBN 10: 0674010485 / ISBN 13: 9780674010482

Published by Harvard University Press, 2004

About this Item

Slight indents to boards. Contents VG.Uneven fading to wrapper. [Loc. J1-2].

Seller Inventory # 009932

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Quintessence: Basic Readings from the Philosophy of W. V. Quine
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication Date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674010485
• ISBN 13: 9780674010482
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Philosophy

About this title

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.

About the Authors

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.