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Early Life
While attending the local Highschool in Akron Quine chose to pursue scientific courses, as opposed to classical, technical, or commercial courses offered. Interested in geography he spend many summers drafting maps and selling them. During his last year of High School he developed an interest in language, grammar, and etymology. Orenstein, A. (1977). Willard Van Orman Quine. Twayne. accessed through https://openlibrary.org/works/OL6665045W/Willard_Van_Orman_Quine?edition=willardvanormanq00alex -
Born
Born in Akron, Ohio to Cloyd and Hariett Quine. Cloyd was a Manufacturing entrepreneur founding the Akron Equipment Company. His mother was a school teacher -
Begins Academic Studies
In 1926 Quine started attending Oberlin College in Ohio where he studied mathematics and logic Duignan, B. (2021, June 21). Willard Van Orman Quine. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Willard-Van-Orman-Quine -
Bachelors Degree
In 1930 Quine graduated Summa cum laude or "with highest praise" with a Bachelor's in Mathematics (Duignan, 2021). -
Graduate Work
In 1930 Quine applied to Harvard University since at the time their Philosophy department had the strongest Logic program. After applying he was awarded a scholarship and began a two year PHd program (Orenstien, 1977) -
Master's Degree
In the spring of 1931 Quine completed his M.A. and began work on his Dissertation " The Logic of Sequences: A Generalization of the Principia Mathematica" -
Doctoral Work complete
While completing his Dissertation, which already began to show his interest in philosophy concerning ontology or the question of what there is, in 1931 and 1932 Quine attended a lecture by Bertrand Russell. Russell would be a huge influence on Quine and his take on philosophy as both had a preoccupation with ontology, but differed on expressing their ontological claims (Orenstein, 1977). During 1932 Quine received his Ph.D. in Philosophy. -
Harvard's Sheldon Traveling Fellowship
During the first year of his four year post-doctoral work Quine held the Sheldon traveling fellowship visiting middle Europe (Vienna, Warsaw, and Prague). He considered this period a personal renaissance, specifically his time in Warsaw and Prague. In Prague he would meet Rudolf Carnap, beginning a clash over analytic philosophy and Logical Positivism that would bring about some of the most important philosophy of the twentieth century (Orenstein. 1977) -
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Harvard Society of Fellows
In 1933 Quine returned to the United States and joined the Harvard Society of Fellows. This freed him from being a teacher for the next three years during this time he worked out many of his most distinctive positions (Orenstein, 1977) -
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Faculty positions
From 1936-1978 Quine taught a Harvard in many positions eventually becoming a full professor in 1948 (Duignan, 2021). -
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Naval Service
In 1942 Quine joined the Navy where he worked in Naval Intelligence decoding German submarine communications. Eventually rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. -
"From a Logical Point of View"
In 1953 Quine published "From a Logical Point of View". This was nine essays largely concerned with the theory of meaning and references. -
Theories and Things
In 1981 Quine published this work containing some published and unpublished writings on metaphysical and epistemological questions. -
Kyoto Prize
In November of 1996 Quine was awarded the Kyoto Prize in Creative Arts and Moral Sciences for developing countless sensational arguments filled with insight covering fields from epistemology to philosophy of language and science, Dr. Quine has created a new paradigm of philosophy for the second half of the 20th century. Kobayashi , M. (Ed.). (1996, November 12). Willard Van Orman Quine. 京都賞. https://www.kyotoprize.org/en/laureates/willard_van_orman_quine/. -
From Stimulus to Science
In 1998 Quine, now in his eighties, published "From Stimulus to Science". This work would discuss his entire Philosophical work including key components of his epistemological stance as well as his value of logic and mathematics. -
Death
Quine died in Boston on December 25th 200