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Birth
American philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine was born in 1908 in Akron Ohio. -
Education 1930s-1940s
Quine obtained a degree at Oberlin College where he studied logic and mathematics, leading him to a Ph.D. in philosophy at Harvard University in 1932, studying under Alfred North Whitehead. After serving in WW2 Quine returned to Harvard taking on various respectful positions until his retirement. Quine's proficiency in speaking other languages led him to academic travels, engaging in broad philosophical literature, interpreting his interconnected view of language and meaning. -
1950s Two Dogmas of Empiricism
From a Logical Point of View, a combined series of articles from early works. Within this collection, the Two Dogmas of Empiricism presented Quine's emphasis on logic that challenged the empiricist view of truth.
Quine's ideas on meaning, analyticity and modality, had a particular impact regarding his prior philosophy of communication and the significance of language. -
1960s Ontological Relativity
In Ontological Relativity and other essays, Quine argues his early views on the nature of existence and the significance between language and reality, insisting on a naturalistic process in resolving indeterminacy of translations. Ontological relativity suggests theories of reality in nature are not sufficiently determined from experiences alone. -
1960s Word and Object
Word and object, Quine presented errors in language and mind, knowledge of meaning, and reference from his naturalistic point of view, on beliefs causing distortion in realizing specific meanings or speculation from complexities of reference, and perception of surroundings. This implied that Individual perceptions and distinct interpretations could majoritively be as reasonable as the evident determination at hand. -
1970s - 1980s
Quine continued to publish works on various topics, contributing to debates in epistemology, philosophy of science, and metaphysics. He firmly held the concept that logic is not an empirical study of how knowledge is acquired and maintained. -
1990s From Stimulus to Science
Quine gives insight to his engagments with reification and reference that contributes to the structure that will relate science to its sensory evidence.
From Stimulus to Science , Quine emphasizes his philosophical thinking on all the key components of his epistemological stance , logic and mathematics. -
2000 D.o.d.
Willard Van Orman Quine contributed to valued insights and interpretations on social perceptions in knowledge ,epistemology, holism and naturalism, that continue to stimulate broad Philosophical discussions of debate.