On Quine on Carnap on Ontology

Philosophical Studies 102 (1):93 - 122 (2001)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

W. V. Quine assumed that in _Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology Rudolf Carnap was attempting to dodge commitment to abstract entities--without either renouncing quantification over them or demonstrating their dispensability--by wielding the analytic/synthetic distinction against ontological issues. Quine's interpretation of Carnap's intent--and his criticism of it--is widely endorsed. But Carnap objected, I argue, not to abstract entities, but to his critics' suggestion that empiricism implies nominalism. Quine's and Carnap's views are therefore more akin than Quine ever suspected. Unfortunately, Quine's misinterpretation of Carnap's position has led to a misunderstanding of the implications of Quine's own naturalistic turn for contemporary ontology

Categories

Keywords

Reprint years

2004

DOI

10.1023/a:1010353825006

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 100,925

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

My notes

Similar books and articles

Carnap on Analyticity and Existence: A Clarification, Defense, and Development of Quine’s Reading of Carnap’s Views on Ontology.Gary Ebbs - 2019 - Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy 7 (5):1-31.
Quine.A. W. Moore - 2009 - In Christopher Belshaw & Gary Kemp (eds.), 12 Modern Philosophers. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 16–33.
Language, Ontology, and the Carnap-Quine Debate.Jonathan Surovell - 2017 - Philosophia 45 (2):811-833.
In the Philosophical Vein: Carnap's Views on Ontology.Marc Aubrey Kelly - 1999 - Dissertation, University of Michigan
Empirical equivalence in the Quine-Carnap debate.Eric J. Loomis - 2006 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 87 (4):499–508.
L'epitaffio della metafisica.Stefano Coelati Rama - manuscript
Carnap and Quine on Empiricism.Robert Almeder - 1997 - History of Philosophy Quarterly 14 (3):349 - 364.
Carnap, Quine, Quantification and Ontology.Gregory Lavers - 2015 - In Alessandro Torza (ed.), Quantifiers, Quantifiers, and Quantifiers. Themes in Logic, Metaphysics, and Language. (Synthese Library vol. 373). Springer.
Lewis and Quine in context.Sander Verhaegh - 2023 - Asian Journal of Philosophy 2 (2):1-8.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
263 (#99,035)

6 months
13 (#224,934)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Marc Alspector-Kelly
Western Michigan University

Citations of this work

Carnap and ontological pluralism.Matti Eklund - 2009 - In Ryan Wasserman, David Manley & David Chalmers (eds.), Metametaphysics: New Essays on the Foundations of Ontology. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. pp. 130--56.
Carnap's Metaontology.Matti Eklund - 2011 - Noûs 47 (2):229-249.
Choosing the realist framework.Stathis Psillos - 2011 - Synthese 180 (2):301 - 316.

View all 29 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Symposium: On What there is.P. T. Geach, A. J. Ayer & W. V. Quine - 1948 - Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 25 (1):125-160.
Does Ontology Rest on a Mistake?Stephen Yablo - 1998 - Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 72 (1):229 - 283.
Intellectual Autobiography.Rudolf Carnap - 1963 - In Paul Arthur Schilpp (ed.), The philosophy of Rudolf Carnap. La Salle, Ill.,: Open Court. pp. 3--84.
Identity, ostension, and hypostasis.W. V. Quine - 1950 - Journal of Philosophy 47 (22):621-633.
Steps Toward a Constructive Nominalism.Nelson Goodman & W. V. Quine - 1947 - Journal of Symbolic Logic 13 (1):49-50.

View all 6 references / Add more references