Buy used:
$16.35
FREE delivery January 13 - 16. Details
Or fastest delivery January 10 - 14. Details
Used: Very Good | Details
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comment: May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

From Stimulus to Science Hardcover – October 18, 1995

3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 6 ratings

W. V. Quine is one of the most eminent philosophers alive today. Now in his mid-eighties he has produced a sharp, sprightly book that encapsulates the whole of his philosophical enterprise, including his thinking on all the key components of his epistemological stance--especially the value of logic and mathematics. New readers of Quine may have to go slowly, fathoming for themselves the richness that past readers already know lies between these elegant lines. For the faithful there is much to ponder.

In this short book, based on lectures delivered in Spain in 1990, Quine begins by locating his work historically. He provides a lightning tour of the history of philosophy (particularly the history of epistemology), beginning with Plato and culminating in an appreciative sketch of Carnap's philosophical ambitions and achievements. This leads, in the second chapter, to an introduction to Quine's attempt to naturalize epistemology, which emphasizes his continuities with Carnap rather than the differences between them. The next chapters develop the naturalistic story of the development of science to take account of how our conceptual apparatus is enhanced so that we can view the world as containing re-identifiable objects. Having explained the role of observation sentences in providing a checkpoint for assessing scientific theories, and having despaired of constructing an empirical criterion to determine which sentences are meaningful, Quine in the remaining chapters takes up a variety of important issues about knowledge. He concludes with an extended treatment of his views about reference and meaning and his attitudes toward psychological and modal notions.

The presentation is distinctive, and the many small refinements of detail and formulation will fascinate all who know Quine's philosophy.

The%20Amazon%20Book%20Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now

Editorial Reviews

Review

Here in elegantly compact form is the world-view of the person many would regard as the greatest living philosopher...This magisterial little book offers newcomers a short and gem-studded path to the views of a great thinker, and it will be greeted with affection and pleasure by old hands. (R. M. Sainsbury Times Literary Supplement)

This book will demonstrate why philosophy is an endlessly fascinating, enduring enterprise. Here we have wonder, conjecture, analysis, and discovery. If you get the chance, share the brilliance, daring, and courage of a first-rate philosopher exploring the human condition through logic and language. (John Shosky
Free Inquiry)

In the course of
From Stimulus to Science, Quine touches on and clarifies his position as regards many of the subjects dealt with in a less accommodating fashion in earlier works--observation sentences, reference, reification, truth and disquotation, meaning, translation and interpretation, semantic ascent, and quotation. The excitement is real and sustained with great verve throughout this latest offering. (Max de Gaynesford Radical Philosophy)

About the Author

W. V. Quine was Edgar Pierce Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University. He wrote twenty-one books, thirteen of them published by Harvard University Press.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard University Press (October 18, 1995)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 114 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0674326350
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674326354
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 0.5 x 8.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 6 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Willard Van Orman Quine
Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
6 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers

Top reviews from the United States