Conventionalism
From Poincare to Quine

This book is a comprehensive study of Conventionalism, providing a fresh perspective on twentieth-century philosophy.

Yemima Ben-Menahem (Author)

9781107407312, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 13 September 2012

344 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.51 kg

Review of the hardback: '… a wonderfully detailed look at the history of conventionalism.' Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics

The daring idea that convention - human decision - lies at the root both of necessary truths and much of empirical science reverberates through twentieth-century philosophy, constituting a revolution comparable to Kant's Copernican revolution. This book provides a comprehensive study of Conventionalism. Drawing a distinction between two conventionalist theses, the under-determination of science by empirical fact, and the linguistic account of necessity, Yemima Ben-Menahem traces the evolution of both ideas to their origins in Poincaré's geometric conventionalism. She argues that the radical extrapolations of Poincaré's ideas by later thinkers, including Wittgenstein, Quine, and Carnap, eventually led to the decline of conventionalism. This book provides a fresh perspective on twentieth-century philosophy. Many of the major themes of contemporary philosophy emerge in this book as arising from engagement with the challenge of conventionalism.

1. Overview: the varieties of conventionalism
2. Origins: Poincaré and Duhem and convention
3. Relativity: from 'experience and geometry' to 'geometry and experience'
4. Implicit definition
5. 'Unlimited possibilities': Carnap on convention
6. Metaphor and argument: Quine on convention
7. Wittgenstein: from conventionalism to Iconoclasm.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX], Philosophy of mind [HPM], Western philosophy, from c 1900 - [HPCF], Linguistics [CF]