WV Quine According to Gary

WV Quine

According to Gary Kemp (1), epistemology is the theory of knowledge, and metaphysics is the theory of reality. These two concepts have concern philosophers in various ways over many centuries. Concomitantly, philosophy has frequently concerned itself with the nature of "truth" as a concept that is central to reality. While some philosophers have made claims to having found a specific truth, others have acknowledged that this concept is ultimately not only subjective, but also illusive. WV Quine falls into the latter category. His philosophy focuses on the nature of existence and knowledge as subjective and therefore impossible to experience outside of personal subjectivity. The basis of Quine's philosophy is that epistemological truth is ultimately man-made (Mosher 1) and subjective. This however does not mean that the interpretation of the world as human beings see it should be abandoned. Instead, Quine suggests that the very subjectivity of epistemological truth opens it to multiple interpretations; each equally acceptable.

According to the Columbia Encyclopedia, WV Quine was born in 1908 in Akron, Ohio. He studied at Harvard, obtaining his Ph.D. In 1932. One of his main influences was Rudolf Carnap. Mainly, Quine's philosophy rested upon the premise that any statement could be held to be true, provided that appropriate adjustments be made in the language system as a whole to accommodate the statement in question.

As seen above, Quine holds that, while reality is a fact that cannot be denied, the specific manifestation of this reality is bound to individual perception, which differs from person to person. The only reality that a person can know occurs through empiric experience. This experience is then organized by thought, which is further organized by language. Human beings communicate their empiric experience of reality to each other and create a collective but somewhat deceptive sense of reality. Quine applies this to all areas of human knowledge, including those that are traditionally viewed as the most scientific, empirical, and logical, such as mathematics and physics. The philosopher views this holistically: collective human experience and thought are depicted and connected via language, which is created by human beings. In this way, human beings serve as creators of a subjective but collective reality by means of language.

A further aspect of this self-created reality is its fluid nature. Human experience and investigation often requires the modification of existing evidence. Hence, reality is modified according to the thought connected to scientific investigation. When evidence changes, language provides the framework for a changed reality as well (Mosher 2). This self-created reality and all its concomitant theories are then relativistic and indeterminate. There is no ultimate truth or reality; both truth and reality are created by thought followed by language, made up of fluid theories that are interconnected and dependent upon each other. This is Quine's holistic view of reality.

Kemp (1) notes that Quine departs not only from the philosophical viewpoint of knowledge and reality up to his time, but also from his contemporaries and immediate successors at the beginning of the century. In this, the philosopher refers to his own views of philosophical truth as "naturalism" (Kemp 2). This refers to the way in which Quine reconceives the questions of existence and truth that concern philosophy. The philosopher in this way redefines the basic philosophical questions of life and reality to be a pioneer of later philosophical views. For Quine, philosophy is no longer separated from the natural or any other sciences, but is rather part of all forms of knowledge to form a continuous fabric of human knowledge, as mentioned above.

A find Quine's philosophy particularly attractive because of its acknowledgements regarding the fluidity of truth and reality. I find it particularly interesting that he conceptualizes language as a prerequisite not only for the existence of knowledge, but also for the existence of form. Human language allows things, ideas, and truth to exist.

Another appealing element in Quine's philosophy is the fact that he does not view the fluidity of reality or thought as futile in any way. Indeed, it allows the continuous growth of language, knowledge and reality. Instead of viewing all forms of knowledge as non-truth, Quine takes the positive position: all knowledge and truth are possibilities until proven otherwise or until modified to something new. This allows for creativity and a view of reality that continues to evolve. In doing this, past thought and philosophy are also acknowledged for the pathways they created towards current views.

A find Quine's views appealing because it resonates with my own views of knowledge and reality. In the 21st century, more than ever before, the explosion of various forms of knowledge has proved how much there is to know and how little is in fact known. Globalization and computer technology have made the interconnectedness of thought and language a more concrete reality than ever before. In this, Quine has proved himself to be a true pioneer of philosophies that arose much later than his own.