Quine on Quantification and Existence

TY - JOUR

T1 - Quine on Quantification and Existence

AU - Stoneham, Tom

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - Quine’s justly famous paper “On What There Is” introduced a criterion of ontological commitment which has been almost universally accepted by analytic philosophers ever since. In this paper I try to unpack some of the substantive and controversial philosophical commitments that are presupposed by this criterion. The aim is not to show that the criterion is incorrect, but merely that it is not as obvious as it is taken to be by many, and that we might have reasons to explore alternative ways of thinking about ontological commitments.

AB - Quine’s justly famous paper “On What There Is” introduced a criterion of ontological commitment which has been almost universally accepted by analytic philosophers ever since. In this paper I try to unpack some of the substantive and controversial philosophical commitments that are presupposed by this criterion. The aim is not to show that the criterion is incorrect, but merely that it is not as obvious as it is taken to be by many, and that we might have reasons to explore alternative ways of thinking about ontological commitments.

KW - Quine

KW - Ontology

KW - Existence

KW - Quantification Theory

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84977267680&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3868/s030-005-016-0005-2

DO - 10.3868/s030-005-016-0005-2

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84977267680

SN - 1673-3436

VL - 11

SP - 54

EP - 72

JO - Frontiers of Philosophy in China

JF - Frontiers of Philosophy in China

IS - 1

ER -