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Birth of Willard Van Orman Quine
W. V. Quine was born June 25, 1908 in Akron, Ohio. -
Ph.D. in Philosophy
Quine received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Harvard University in 1932. During his time at Harvard, and also from his world travels, he met many others who would instruct, mentor, and influence his studies. Such acquaintances include Alfred Whitehead (his thesis supervisor), Stanislaw Lesniewski, Alfred Tarski, Rudolf Carnap, and A. J. Ayer. -
Elementary Logic
Quine devoted his life to philosophy and easily mastered its concepts. When teaching, however, he noted that his students did not have references that summarized philosophy topics in a useful way for newcomers. He wrote his own book to be used for teaching so that he could convey his technique. This underlies his expertise at not only knowing a subject, but knowing how to explain it in a way that others will know it also. -
Two Dogmas of Empiricism
Quine wrote this book in opposition to analytical thinking of the time. The underlying theme is that statements are not necessarily true just because of the wording used in them. He challenged that such a statement could be true or false, and there is a necessity for empirical data. Statements, whether true or false, can be justified solely by their ability to explain our observations. -
Word and Object
Possibly Quine's Magnum Opus, in it he describes the usage of words in a given language, and how the culture of an individual can affect the meaning of a word (to include native and non-native speaking members). He describes the concept as Indeterminacy of translation, in which intuition directly determines the meaning of a translation. -
Philosophy of Logic
After gaining a mastery of the subject, Quine returns to his foundation in teaching. He summarizes that teaching something is one of the best ways to master that subject. He also uses his expertise to once again make advanced concepts more readily able to be learned to students of his classes. -
Final Days
Quine died in Boston, on December 25th, 2000. His legacy is a lifetime of works in the field of philosophy and language that will be used for years. The span of his works are remarkable in that he provides material for a novice in the subject, and for masters of philosophy.
