Quine cover photo

Willard Quine

By TJ123093

  • Born

    Born
    Willard Van Orman Quine, was born on June 25th, 1908 in the town of Akron, Ohio to Cloyd Quine and Harriet Van Orman. Willards father a successful engineer, who is known for finding the Akron Equipment Company. Growing up Willard, went by the nickname of Van.

  • Oberlin College

    Oberlin College
    In 1926 Willard Quine left his family home in pursuit of a college education at Oberlin College. To help finance his studies, Quine sold his beloved stamp collection. After being enthralled by the philosophy of Bertrand Russell, Quine decided to change his major to mathematics and a minor in the philosophy of math and achieved his degree by 1930.

  • Harvard

    Harvard
    Upon graduation from Oberlin College, Willard Quine won a scholarship to Harvard University to study for his doctorate which he completed in 1932. Quine returned to Harvard to accept a position on the University staff in 19336 as an Instructor in Philosophy. In 1948, upon completion of his military service, Quine was promoted to Professor. Quine remained on the University staff until his retirement in 1978.

  • Military Service

    Military Service
    In 1942 Willard Quine answered the nations call by serving as a U.S. Navy intelligence officer in WWII. Quine worked to decrypit and translate the German submarine messages. Quine reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander by the end of his service in 1945. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASfAPOiq_eQ

  • Two Dogmas of Empiricism

    Two Dogmas of Empiricism
    In 1951 Willard Quine published one his works that he is most famously known for, Two Dogmas of Empiricism. In this paper Quine discussed two main points on the logical empiricism in philosophy. First being the analytic & synthetic truths, and the second being reductionism.

  • Death

    Death
    On December 25th, 2000, Willard Van Orman Quine died at his house in Boston, Massachusetts. Through out his life Quine had published over 20 books, and visited 115 different countries. The cause of his death was not reported.