Collected Works of Quine - (Volume 4)

Author: Tu Jiliang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: This volume includes three works: On What There Is (1953), Word and Object (1960), and The Roots of Reference (1974). The first is an influential collection of essays by Quine, featuring nine papers such as On What There Is and Two Dogmas of Empiricism, primarily exploring issues like ontological commitment, analyticity, meaning, and universals. It powerfully critiques traditional views on the distinction between analytic and synthetic propositions, as well as reductionism. The second is a representative work of Quine's philosophy, significantly developing the arguments presented in the first book. Within the context of "radical translation," it elaborates and argues for key topics such as the uncertainty of translation, the indeterminacy of reference, and the relativity of ontology. The third provides a detailed exposition of the author's theory of reference generation, further developing perspectives presented in works like Word and Object.