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Willard Van Orman Quine - Born
Born in Akron, Ohio to Cloyd Robert Quine, an engineer who founded the Akron Equipment Company and his mother, Harriet Van Orman a teacher. -
Harvard University 1932
After graduating from Oberlin College in 1930 he won a scholarship to go to Harvard University where he completed his Ph.D. in Philosophy in 1932. 1932 was a great year for Quine who made an exciting visit to Europe financed by a Sheldon Traveling Fellowship. In Vienna he met Philip Frank, Moritz Schlick and other members of the Vienna Circle of Logical Positivists. Here he not only made friends but began a journey. -
Working at Harvard University
Quine was appointed onto the staff at Harvard in 1936 as an Instructor in Philosophy -
Harvard University to World War II
Quine was promoted to Associate Professor in 1941 but shortly after, because of World War II, he undertook war service. From 1942 he spent four years in the United States Navy Intelligence, first as a Lieutenant then as a Lieutenant Commander, decrypting messages from German submarines off the coast. -
Epistemological Naturalism
Epistemological naturalism is the work that Quine is mostly known for. It would state that known methods of scientific thought could be questioned. He raised doubt that the knowledge brought to light by strictly rational means and questioned logical positivism and empiricism. He thought that the broader viewpoint of science as a whole contained the answers to questions. -
Pursuit of Truth
The pursuit of truth is a quest that links observation, theory, and the world. Various faulty efforts to forge such links have led to much intellectual confusion. Quine’s efforts to get beyond the confusion begin by rejecting the very idea of binding together word and thing, rejecting the focus on the isolated word. -
Death
He died, Boston, Massachusetts,
