Einsteinian physics

Quine's paper Two Dogmas of Empiricism, published 1951, is one of the most celebrated papers of twentieth century philosophy in the analytic tradition. The paper is an attack on two central parts of the logical positivists' philosophy. One is the distinction between analytic truths and synthetic truths, explained by Quine as truths grounded only in meanings and independent of facts, and truths grounded in facts. The other is reductionism, which is the theory that each meaningful statement gets its meaning from some logical construc ...

Including:

• Two Dogmas of Empiricism - Analyticity and circularity
• Two Dogmas of Empiricism - Reductionism and Quine's holism
• Two Dogmas of Empiricism - Critique and influence

Read more here: » Two Dogmas of Empiricism: Encyclopedia - Two Dogmas of Empiricism

The hero--or, perhaps, antihero--of the books, naturally, is the Great Brain himself, Tom D. Fitzgerald. (All the Fitzgerald men have the middle name of Dennis, a reminder of the "Fitzgerald Curse," put upon the family because of the cowardice of an ancestor named Dennis) Tom, the middle brother, has two qualities, which, when taken together, make him a menace to society: his great brain and his "money-loving heart." Tom is smart enough to handle school, sports and household chores with dispatch, leaving him with plenty of time to concoct va ...

See also:

The Great Brain, The Great Brain - Swindler and Quondam Humanitarian, The Great Brain - A Bygone Era, The Great Brain - Family Values Up to a Point

Read more here: » The Great Brain: Encyclopedia II - The Great Brain - Swindler and Quondam Humanitarian

Most of Quine's argument against analyticity in the first four sections is focused on showing that different explanations of analyticity are circular. The main purpose is to show that no satisfactory explanation of analyticity has been given. Quine begins by making a distinction between two different classes of analytic statements. The first one is called logical true and has the form: (1) No unmarried man is married A sentence with that form is true independent of the interpretation of man and married, so long as ...

See also:

Two Dogmas of Empiricism, Two Dogmas of Empiricism - Analyticity and circularity, Two Dogmas of Empiricism - Reductionism and Quine's holism, Two Dogmas of Empiricism - Critique and influence

Read more here: » Two Dogmas of Empiricism: Encyclopedia II - Two Dogmas of Empiricism - Analyticity and circularity

Without passing judgment, Fitzgerald gently reminds his readers of the enormous differences between past and present, leaving us to ponder them. The amounts of money at stake, for example, seem miniscule by today's standards, but the reader quickly adjusts and can soon take interest in enterprises involving fifty cents or a quarter. Without being glib or condescending to either his characters or his readers, Fitzgerald deftly explains difficult concepts: diabetes, the banking system in the days before the Federal Reserve, racism and intolera ...

See also:

The Great Brain, The Great Brain - Swindler and Quondam Humanitarian, The Great Brain - A Bygone Era, The Great Brain - Family Values Up to a Point

Read more here: » The Great Brain: Encyclopedia II - The Great Brain - A Bygone Era

According to the logical positivists, a statement was given a meaning by its empirical verification. This view can be used to define synonymy. Two terms would be synonymous if and only if they are alike in method of empirical confirmation or infirmation. With the notion of synonymy, analyticity of the second class could be defined, and the problem would be solved. But Quine points out that this view needs an explanation of the methods which are to be compared. Reductionism is one of these methods, where a meaningful statement gets its meanin ...

See also:

Two Dogmas of Empiricism, Two Dogmas of Empiricism - Analyticity and circularity, Two Dogmas of Empiricism - Reductionism and Quine's holism, Two Dogmas of Empiricism - Critique and influence

Read more here: » Two Dogmas of Empiricism: Encyclopedia II - Two Dogmas of Empiricism - Reductionism and Quine's holism