Word and Object

Willard Van Orman Quine, Patricia S. Churchland, Dagfinn Føllesdal (Professor, Stanford University)

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English

Massachusetts Inst of Tec
25 January 2013

Philosophy; Analytical philosophy & Logical Positivism

Series: The MIT Press

A new edition of Quine's most important work.

Willard Van Orman Quine begins this influential work by declaring, ""Language is a social art. In acquiring it we have to depend entirely on intersubjectively available cues as to what to say and when."" As Patricia Smith Churchland notes in her foreword to this new edition, with Word and Object Quine challenged the tradition of conceptual analysis as a way of advancing knowledge. The book signaled twentieth-century philosophy's turn away from metaphysics and what Churchland calls the ""phony precision"" of conceptual analysis.

In the course of his discussion of meaning and the linguistic mechanisms of objective reference, Quine considers the indeterminacy of translation, brings to light the anomalies and conflicts implicit in our language's referential apparatus, clarifies semantic problems connected with the imputation of existence, and marshals reasons for admitting or repudiating each of various categories of supposed objects. In addition to Churchland's foreword, this edition offers a new preface by Quine's student and colleague Dagfinn Follesdal that describes the never-realized plans for a second edition of Word and Object, in which Quine would offer a more unified treatment of the public nature of meaning, modalities, and propositional attitudes.

A new edition of Quine's most important work.

Willard Van Orman Quine begins this influential work by declaring, ""Language is a social art. In acquiring it we have to depend entirely on intersubjectively available cues as to what to say and when."" As Patricia Smith Churchland notes in her foreword to this new edition, with Word and Object Quine challenged the tradition of conceptual analysis as a way of advancing knowledge. The book signaled twentieth-century philosophy's turn away from metaphysics and what Churchland calls the ""phony precision"" of conceptual analysis.

In the course of his discussion of meaning and the linguistic mechanisms of objective reference, Quine considers the indeterminacy of translation, brings to light the anomalies and conflicts implicit in our language's referential apparatus, clarifies semantic problems connected with the imputation of existence, and marshals reasons for admitting or repudiating each of various categories of supposed objects. In addition to Churchland's foreword, this edition offers a new preface by Quine's student and colleague Dagfinn Follesdal that describes the never-realized plans for a second edition of Word and Object, in which Quine would offer a more unified treatment of the public nature of meaning, modalities, and propositional attitudes.

By: Willard Van Orman Quine
Preface by: Dagfinn Føllesdal (Professor Stanford University)
Foreword by: Patricia S. Churchland
Imprint: Massachusetts Inst of Tec
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: New edition
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 13mm
Weight: 408g
ISBN: 9780262518314
ISBN 10: 0262518317
Series: The MIT Press
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 25 January 2013
Recommended Age: From 18
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Willard Van Orman Quine (1908--2000) held the Edgar Pierce Chair of Philosophy at Harvard University from 1956 to 2000. Considered one the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century, he is the author of Mathematical Logic, The Roots of Reference, The Time of My Life: An Autobiography (MIT Press), and many other books. Patricia Smith Churchland is UC President's Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, San Diego, and Adjunct Professor at the Salk Institute. Dagfinn Follesdal is C. I. Lewis Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at Stanford University.