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Collegiate Education
W. V. Quine was born in Akron, Ohio June 25th, 1908. After completion of his primary schools he attended Oberlin College, Whitehead and Russel's Principia Mathematica, and Harvard University. He earned his Ph. D. in 1932, under two years at Harvard. Shortly after he was named Junior Fellow at Harvard in 1933. The positions he held while after that at Harvard included Faculty Instructor of Philosophy, assistant professor, professor, and Edgar Pierce Professor for 22 years. (Føllesdal, 2002). -
New Foundations for Mathematical Logic
Dr. Quine produced NF as a way to more precisely determine ontological meaning in mathematics. This was considered ground breaking in the sense that it clarified the meaning of mathematical equations across Europe (Føllesdal, & Parsons, C., 2002). He leaned heavily on the time he spent in Warsaw between 1930 and 1933. This was important to the philosophy of science because it brought up a challenge for elementary logisticians in proving arguments beyond empirical limits. -
Two dogmas of Empiricism
This article was controversial to the philosophy of science as a whole because he describes the difference of translatable ideas throughout as subject to what we perceive or what we expect others perceive (Føllesdal, & Parsons, C., 2002). Some critics considered this work an incomplete theory (Kemeny, 1954). He justified the intertwining of epistemology and semantics to justify the use of linguistics in a formal manner to discuss subjects that considered more ontological in nature. -
Word and Object
In his book Word and Object, Dr. Quine describes his views on empiricism. He ascribed to two notable portions of empiricism that noted how all that there is for science is sensory information to be derived from or to be used as evidence to justify (Gibson, 2002). He also makes a more exact distinction between science and the philosophy of science by stating that all scientists may ascribe to a philosophy of approach, but not all philosophers need be scientists (Gibson, 2002). -
Epistemology Naturalized
In Dr. Quine's seminal paper, he argued for a division between doctrinal and conceptual paradigms (Verhaegh, 2014). He also criticized traditional epistemologists' adoption of Cartesian certainty as futile. His idea was distinguishable at the time of his writing, as many scientists considered it unwise to adopt a theory as acceptable until sensory data proved it. Cartesian certainty requires this form of sensory data and explanation for any sentiment to be considered rational. -
W. V. Quine's Major Achievements
He remained active after retirement. He was honorarily given 17 degrees throughout his tenure in education and dissertations in philosophy and mathematical application of logic. In 1993 he received the Rolf Schock Prize in Logic and Philosophy in Stockholm, Sweden and the prestigious Kyoto Prize in Japan in 1996 (Føllesdal, & Parsons, C., 2002). Dr. Quine passed away on Christmas Day, 2000. W. V. Quine may have been the most influential philosopher and logistician of the 20th century.