On Quine on Carnap on Ontology

Marc Alspector-Kelly

doi:10.1023/A:1010353825006

On Quine on Carnap on Ontology

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

Authors	Marc Alspector-Kelly Western Michigan University
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
Keywords	W.V. Quine Rudolf Carnap Ontology
Categories	Analyticity in Philosophy of Language Carnap: Ontology in 20th Century Philosophy The Analytic-Synthetic Distinction in Philosophy of Language W. V. O. Quine in 20th Century Philosophy (categorize this paper)
Reprint years	2004
DOI	10.1023/A:1010353825006
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References found in this work BETA

On What There Is.P. T. Geach, A. J. Ayer & W. V. Quine - 1951 - Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 25:125-160.

Intellectual Autobiography.Rudolf Carnap - 1927 - In The Philosophy of Rudolf Carnap. Open Court. pp. 3--84.

Does Ontology Rest on a Mistake?Stephen Yablo - 1998 - Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 72 (1):229 - 283.

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.

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Citations of this work BETA

Working From Within: The Nature and Development of Quine's Naturalism.Sander Verhaegh - 2018 - New York: Oxford University Press.

Carnap and Ontological Pluralism.Matti Eklund - 2009 - In David Chalmers, David Manley & Ryan Wasserman (eds.), Metametaphysics: New Essays on the Foundations of Ontology. Oxford University Press. pp. 130--56.

Quine's Monism and Modal Eliminativism in the Realm of Supervenience.Atilla Akalın - 2019 - International Journal of Social Humanities Sciences Research (JSHRS) 6 (34):795-800.

Carnap's Metaontology.Matti Eklund - 2013 - Noûs 47 (2):229-249.

Choosing the Realist Framework.Stathis Psillos - 2011 - Synthese 180 (2):301 - 316.

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On Quine on Carnap on Ontology

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