The Philosophical Project of Carnap and Quine

This book reassesses Carnap and Quine by presenting them as sharing philosophical motivations despite their notable differences.

Sean Morris (Edited by)

9781108494243, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 February 2023

288 pages
23.5 x 15.5 x 2.1 cm, 0.61 kg

Rudolf Carnap (1891–1970) and W. V. O Quine (1908–2000) have long been seen as key figures of analytic philosophy who are opposed to each other, due in no small part to their famed debate over the analytic/synthetic distinction. This volume of new essays assembles for the first time a number of scholars of the history of analytic philosophy who see Carnap and Quine as figures largely sympathetic to each other in their philosophical views. The essays acknowledge the differences which exist, but through their emphasis on Carnap and Quine's shared assumption about how philosophy should be done-that philosophy should be complementary to and continuous with the natural and mathematical sciences-our understanding of how they diverge is also deepened. This volume reshapes our understanding not only of Carnap and Quine, but of the history of analytic philosophy generally.

Part I. Carnap, Quine, and Logical Empiricism: 1. Carnap and Quine: first encounters (1933–1936) Sander Verhaegh
2. On Quine's guess about Neurath's influence on Carnap's Aufbau Thomas Uebel
3. Frameworks, paradigms, and conceptual schemes: blurring the boundaries between realism and anti-realism Sean Morris
Part II. Carnap, Quine, and American Pragmatism: 4. Pragmatism in Carnap and Quine: affinity or disparity? Yemima Ben-Menahem
5. Objectivity socialized James Pearson
6. Whose dogmas of empiricism? Lydia Patton
Part III. Carnap and Quine on Logic, Language, and Translation: 7. Reading Quine's claim that Carnap's term 'Semantical Rule' is meaningless Gary Ebbs
8. What does translation translate? Quine, Carnap, and the emergence of indeterminacy Paul A. Roth
9. Quine and Wittgenstein on the indeterminacy of translation Andrew Lugg
10. Turning point: Quine's indeterminacy of translation at middle age Richard Creath
Part IV. Carnap and Quine on Ontology and Metaphysics: 11. Carnap and Quine on ontology and categories Roberta Ballarin
12. Carnap and Quine on the status of ontology: the role of the principle of tolerance Peter Hylton
13. Carnap, Quine, and Williamson: Metaphysics, semantics, and science Gary Kemp
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Philosophy of science [PDA], Philosophy of mathematics [PBB], Western philosophy, from c 1900 - [HPCF]