Quine and Strawson

The term ‘philosophy’ literally translates to ‘love of wisdom’. Philosophy is the field people undertake when searching fundamental answers for the way of life, about themselves, the world they are living in, and about their interrelations with people and to the world.

Quine and Strawson were notable philosophers of their time who had contributed greatly to the field of philosophy. Peter Frederick Strawson first gained popularity with his article titled ‘On Referring’, which criticised the theory of descriptions by Bertrand Russell stated in the article ‘On Denoting.’ 

Quine believed that philosophy is not simply a conceptual analysis; instead, it is continuous with science. One of his famous works includes the elucidation of the theory of descriptions by Bertrand Russell in Quine’s article titled ‘On What There Is.’

An introduction to the theories and works of Peter Frederick Strawson

• Spanning the second half of the twentieth century, Peter Frederick Strawson (1919-2006) was a philosopher based at the University of Oxford.
• His notable contributions include his writings on the philosophy of language, epistemology, metaphysics, history of philosophy, and most especially Kant.
• He formed his assumptions that there is no choice besides employing the concepts of common sense (of body and person), space, time, causation, meaning, reference, and truth.
• Peter Frederick Strawson further stated that applicability of those concepts does not need to be reduced to a supposedly more basic and secure realm of concepts, like that of experience as the empiricists conceive them to be, or science.
• He concluded that a basic and secure realm of thought does not exist, and metaphysics aims to describe the indispensable notions and how they are interconnected.
• He was opposed to the philosophical theories of language proposed by Russell and Davidson. He interpreted that their theories overestimated the degree of similarity between ordinary and formal languages.
• He was also opposed to the sceptical attitudes towards meaning and truth, which Quine and Dummett developed.
• Interestingly, even though Quine and Strawson did many works in similar areas, many of their works contradicted each other.
• One of the most renowned philosophers of his time, the works of Peter Frederick Strawson, gathered the attention of many other fellow philosophers like Quine, Davidson, Russell, Sellars, Putnam, and Kripke.
• Some of his notable works include –
• The article ‘On Referring’ criticises the article ‘On Denoting’ by Bertrand Russell. He argued that Russell confused referring with asserting whose roots originated from confusing a sentence with a statement made in that specific sentence.
• The article ‘Truth’ criticises truth’s semantic and correspondence theories.
• His first book was ‘Introduction to Logical Theory,’ published in 1952. He attempted to explain ordinary language’s nature, scope, and formal logic limits. One of the important parts of the book is his statement that the proper representation of the complex features of the logic of ordinary language is not done by the formal logical systems of propositional logic and predicate calculus. 
• His second book ‘Individuals’ and the paper ‘Freedom and Resentment’ are his other notable works.

An introduction to the theories and works of Willard Van Orman Quine

• Quine’s (1908-2006) mainly focuses on theoretical philosophy and logic.
• Quine is best known for his debate against Logical Empiricism, mainly the distinction between analytic and synthetic theories of philosophy, and his work on set theory or pure logic, Quine’s set theory.
• Quine believed that philosophy is not simply a conceptual analysis; instead, it is continuous with science.
• Some of his notable works include –
• The publication of ‘A System of Logistics’ was a revised version of his dissertation.
• Publishment of ‘Mathematical Logic,’ ‘From a Logical Point of View,’ ‘Word and Object,’ ‘Set Theory and its Logic’, ‘Ways of Paradox,’ ‘Ontological Relativity and Other Essays, ‘The Roots of Reference,’ ‘Theories and Things,’ ‘Pursuit of Truth,’ and ‘From Stimulus to Science.’
• Quine reviewed Strawson’s logical theory in his paper ‘Mind.’ Quine, in his article ‘Mr. Strawson on Logical Theory‘ criticises Strawson for basing his logical theory on analyticity and entailment, which according to Quine, were a fragile foundation.
• Elucidation of the theory of descriptions by Bertrand Russell in Quine’s article titled ‘On What There Is.’
• Quine, along with Hilary Putnam (his colleague from Harvard University), developed the Quine–Putnam indispensability argument for the reality of mathematical entities.
• He developed the influential naturalised epistemology to provide an improved scientific explanation on developing elaborate scientific theories based on sensory input.
• The Duhem–Quine thesis is the advocation of ontological relativity in science.

Conclusion

By the end of this article on ‘Philosophy – Quine and Strawson’, we have learned that –

• Quine and Strawson had different views on developing theories or viewing things in philosophy.
• Even though Quine and Strawson did many works in similar areas, many of their works contradicted each other.
• Strawson’s logical theory was reviewed by Quine in his paper ‘Mind’ and criticised in Quine’s article ‘Mr. Strawson on Logical Theory’ for basing the logical theory on analyticity and entailment, which according to Quine were the fragile foundation.
• The notable works, concepts, and theories of Quine and Strawson, their correlation, and contradictions.