Academic literature on the topic 'W. V. Quine'

This dissertation explores the works of W. V. Quine and Ludwig Wittgenstein. It provides a detailed and comprehensive discussion of their distinct conceptions of philosophy. It shows how Quine is involved in a scientific philosophy aimed at the discovery of truth and explanation. It also demonstrates how Wittgenstein's critical approach attempts to dissolve philosophical problems and theories. The main purpose of this work is to explain how a proper understanding of each philosopher's framework of study, is crucial to the understanding and criticism of their respective philosophical ideas. The only way to properly refute Quine's theories is to evaluate them in a scientific framework. Any other interpretation could change his intention and weaken his arguments. Similarly, the only way to refute Wittgenstein's claims is to interpret them in everyday language. However, this is not to say that either view can be refuted. It is simply to point out that any attempt to oppose Wittgenstein's claims from a scientific viewpoint, or Quine's from a non-scientific perspective, will be flawed since it is contrary to the way in which each view was conceived.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
To present dissertation it is the result of an investigation on the conception behaviorist of the language of Quine, tends as pretension your exposition and defense, alleging your permanence in elapsing of all the quinean works. The importance of this work is due to the fact that many critics were made Quine with regard to your linguistic perspective. Among the critics, what promotes contusing objections, it is Noam Chomsky. This alleges that Quine suffers from inconsistency and incoherence when proposing your language conception, and he still affirms that Quine abandons the behaviorism in your last works in favor of a mentalism. To accomplish the defense of Quine front to the accusations of Chomsky it was had as reference Roger Gibson, which elaborated a defense of the position of Quine, that however it was not very clear. This way, in this dissertation it is made an analysis not only of the critics of Chomsky, but also of the defense of Gibson in the search of offering a better explanation of the conception of Quine. It is sustained that the program behaviorist quinean is presented mainly in Word and Object, published in 1960, but it stays until your last publications. In these some are observed explanations and amplifications than it was already presented in 1960, but non incoherences. The sustentation of your conception is found in your rejection to the semantics traditional mentalist that accepts intension concepts as mental entities when correlating words with ideas. Quine defends that the linguistic meaning is a property of the behavior and, for this reason, not meeting differentiates comportamental, it is not possible to allege semantic difference. Quine assumes, then, that a perspective behaviorist is necessary for the study of the acquisition of the language, even if it is not enough. Besides, the defense of a behaviorism is not only important for your semantic aspect, but also epistemological, because Quine defends that the only possible road to understand the relationship between theory and world is, if before, the subject psychogenetic of "as it is acquired the language" it is answered. Starting from that, the conception behaviorist ends up assuming a central paper in the philosophy of Quine and, for the which, a lot of subjects are answered.
A presente dissertação é o resultado de uma investigação sobre a concepção behaviorista da linguagem de Quine, tendo como pretensão a sua exposição e defesa, alegando a sua permanência no decorrer de todos os trabalhos quineanos. A importância deste trabalho se deve ao fato de que muitas críticas foram feitas a Quine com respeito a sua perspectiva linguística. Dentre os críticos, o que promove objeções contundentes, é Noam Chomsky. Este alega que Quine sofre de inconsistência e incoerência ao propor sua concepção de linguagem, e ainda afirma que Quine abandona o behaviorismo nos seus últimos trabalhos em favor de um mentalismo. Para realizar a defesa de Quine frente às acusações de Chomsky teve-se como referência Roger Gibson, o qual elaborou uma defesa da posição de Quine, que, entretanto, não ficou muito clara. Desta forma, nesta dissertação é feita uma análise não só das críticas de Chomsky, mas também da defesa de Gibson na tentativa de se apresentar um melhor esclarecimento da concepção de Quine. Sustenta-se que o programa behaviorista quineano é apresentado principalmente em Word and Object, publicado em 1960, mas permanece até suas últimas publicações. Nestas são observados alguns esclarecimentos e ampliações do que já era apresentado em 1960, mas não incoerências. A sustentação da sua concepção é encontrada na sua rejeição à semântica mentalista tradicional que aceita conceitos intensionais como entidades mentais ao correlacionar palavras com ideias. Quine defende que o significado linguístico é uma propriedade do comportamento e, por esta razão, não se encontrando diferença comportamental, não é possível alegar diferença semântica. Quine assume, então, que uma perspectiva behaviorista é necessária para o estudo da aquisição da linguagem, mesmo que não seja suficiente. Além disso, a defesa de um behaviorismo não é importante somente pelo seu aspecto semântico, mas também epistemológico, visto que Quine defende que a única via possível para entender a relação entre teoria e mundo é, se antes, a questão psicogenética de como é adquirida a linguagem é respondida. A partir disso, a concepção behaviorista acaba assumindo um papel central na filosofia de Quine e, pela qual, muitas questões são respondidas.

In this thesis I propose an improved theory of ontological commitment, one which is neutral on epistemology. Although Quine's quantificational criterion of ontological commitment has many advantages over its competitors, like its univocal treatment of being and existence, its clear account of ontological reduction and its capacity to accommodate implicit commitments, I argue that it has a fatal flaw: the inability to account for ontological commitment to individuals. Quine's choice of a first-order language of regimentation without constants is so entwined with his holist epistemology that imputations of existence cannot be made except to objects-qua-F, qua some wholly third-personal description. Commitments of those who believe that minds reach out directly to objects by means of acquaintance or introspection, encoded in language by constants, are ungrammatical in Quine's language. This breakdown of grammaticality, on my view, is an avoidable result of Quine's behaviourism and holist epistemology filtering into his choice of canonical language. I opt for a broader conception of ontological commitments as incurred by formalised theories with one or more semantic categories of categorematic objectual expressions, whose function is to stand for objects. I expand the language of regimentation at least to first-order logic with constants and identity. This preserves the attractive features of Quine's position. It retains its elegant treatment of reduction and implicit ontological commitments, and its capacity to explain away Meinongian confusions, without being beholden to global holism. My canonical language makes room for acquaintance and first-personal methods as sources of ontological commitment. It has the advantage of allowing theories like Quine's, which confine themselves to objects-qua-F, to be regimented as well as non-holist theories whose criteria of ontological commitment are 'to be is to be the referent of a name' or 'to be is to be the value of a constant or variable'.

La question du statut de la logique chez quine parait d'emblee paradoxale: la logique est a la fois ce qui pour quine n'est jamais mis en question, comme le montrent les exemples de la traduction radicale et de l'apprentissage linguistique, et une discipline affirmee comme revisable au meme titre que les autres sciences. Comment concilier le point de vue logique et le point de vue epistemologique, expliquer que la logique soit a la fois obvie et revisable? c'est en analysant l'apprentissage de la logique comme integration a une communaute linguistique, et le modele qu'il constitut pour l'evolution de notre scheme conceptuel, que l'on peut repondre a cette question, qui est au centre du systeme philosophique de quine
The question of the place of logic in quine's philosophy seems a highly paradoxical one: standard logic is never criticized nor questioned in quine's work - as is shown by its role in the case of radical translation and language learning - but is claimed to be revisable just as the other sciences are. How can the logical point of view and the epistemological one be conciliated? how can logic at the same time be obvious and revisable? only by a careful exmination of our ways of learning logic with language, and of the ways logic offers a model for the learning and evolution of our conceptual scheme, can that question, central to quine's whole philosophical system, be answered

Doctor of Philosophy
Many criticisms of the prevalent deflationary theories of truth stem from some misunderstanding. Clarification can be found from considering Quine's reasoning on the disquotational feature of the truth predicate. Quine's disquotationalism and Horwich's minimalism are similar theses with respect to the concept of truth, though the difference between the choices of the primary truth bearers and the divergence in their accounts of meaning and reference are striking. Chapter Two is devoted to making plain Quine's reasoning regarding the disquotational concept of truth, and to constructing a disquotational theory of truth. Also in this chapter, the topic of how to enhance the deductive power of this theory is discussed. The following chapter aims to square Quine's theses of inscrutability of reference and ontological relativity, with an account of the disquotational schema of reference. Whether or not a disquotational schema of reference and all its instances can be seen as providing a genuine reference scheme, as claimed by Horwich and most deflationists, is also discussed. In Chapter Four, after an introduction of Horwich's minimalist conception of truth, there are a number of issues considered, in particular Horwich’s use-theoretic account of meaning and compositionality, along with the divergence between his account of meaning and Quine's. The final chapter, Chapter Five, provides a thorough analysis of three important factors regarding the disquotational theory and the minimal theory of truth. Among them, the first factor discussed is what sort of equivalence relation occurs within each instance of the disquotational schema or each axiom of the equivalence schema. Following this, there is an analysis of in what way the disquotationalist and the minimalist can explain all general facts involving truth. The last factor involves considering the proper ascription of the disquotational or the minimal truth predicate. Along with the analysis of these three factors, the issue regarding which theory of truth is preferable is elaborated.

Informe de Seminario para optar al grado de Licenciado en Filosofía
La presente tesina realiza en su marco teórico una breve introducción a las ideas del Círculo de Viena sobre el significado, para a continuación presentar el ataque frontal a las bases del positivismo lógico llevado a cabo por Quine, cuyo original sistema filosófico involucra sostener tesis filosóficas de carácter abarcador, dejándolas en un sector indefinido entre lo semántico, lo epistemológico y lo metafísico. Por lo anterior, la estructura de la exposición del sistema quineano se hará desde “fuera” hacia “adentro”, es decir, yendo del ataque hacia Carnap y el Círculo, pasando por sus tesis del compromiso ontológico, el holismo semántico, la indeterminación de la traducción, la relatividad ontológica y la indeterminación de la referencia, para luego ir hacia las presuposiciones empíricas tácitas que hacen su sistema creíble, o sea, la reificación como punto de continuidad entre el lenguaje natural y la teoría científica, junto con su concepción de un significado estimulativo compatible con el conjunto de sus proposiciones filosóficas. Una vez en el interior del sistema se atacará la noción de “reificación quineana” que involucra que el mundo es concebido desde nuestra niñez como un conjunto no ordenado de experiencia siendo ordenado recién con la adquisición de un lenguaje cualquiera, cosa incompatible con lo que la investigación en psicología del desarrollo ha descubierto. Finalmente, considerando que lo que muestran los experimentos hechos en niños prelingüísticos es una prueba suficiente de la falta de plausibilidad del edificio quineano, entonces se intentará hacer una reconstrucción sobre las soluciones que se han formulado históricamente a los problemas del “significado”, la “referencia” y la “comunicación”, lo que implicará inmediatamente una propuesta sobre las nociones conceptuales que debe contener una teoría más completa cuyo objeto sean los lenguajes naturales.

This paper attempts to prove the feasibility of high temperature hot-wire anemometer for gas turbine environment. No such sensor exists at present. Based on the latest improvement in a new type of Polymer-Derived Ceramic (PDC) material, the authors present a conceptual design of a hot-wire anemometer (HWA) based on PDC material, and show that such a sensor is indeed feasible. This HWA is microfabricated by using three types of PDC materials such as SiAlCN, SiCN (lightly doped) and SiCN (heavily doped) for sensing element (hot-wire), support prongs and connecting leads respectively. The PDC-SiAlCN is selected as a sensing element, because of its high temperature coefficient of resistance (4000 ppm/°C) and resistivity. Direct measurements and characterization of the relevant material properties are presented, to show that the proposed design can lead to a viable constant temperature anemometer. In our current design, the hot wire is 200μm in length and 20 μm × 20 μm side. Analysis of the sensor performance is used to predict sensor response behavior, and the systematic analysis of this new device, especially the steady state characteristics, frequency response and directional dependence are discussed. This novel hot wire anemometer is found to perform quite satisfactorily as compared to a conventional HWA in which the hot wire is made of Pt/W/Pt-Ir. Sensor output is predicted to be in the range of 10 to 50 V (without additional signal conditioning) for velocities in the range of 10 to 100 m/s. The sensitivity of the sensor is found to be better than a conventional sensor: 0.157 V/(m/s) (for sensor length of 0.2 mm) vs 0.014 V/(m/s) respectively at 50 m/s. However, L/d ratio may need to be limited to about 10 so that output voltage is not excessive, thus requiring careful consideration of support conduction during calibration. This type of PDC-HWA can be used in harsh environment due to its high temperature resistance, tensile strength and resistance to oxidation. This paper also discusses micro-stereolithography as a novel microfabrication technique to manufacture the proposed PDC-HWA.

Abstract Human’s motion and its mechanisms had become interesting in the last years, where the medecine’s field search for rehabilitation methods for handicapped persons. Other fields, like sport sciences, professional or military world, search to distinguish profiles and ways to train them with specific purposes. Besides, recent findings in neuroscience try to describe these mechanisms from an organic point of view. Until now, different researchs had given a model about control motor that describes how the union between the senses’s information allows adaptable movements. One of this sense is the proprioception, the sense which has a quite big factor in the orientation and position of the body, its members and joints. For this reason, research for new strategies to explore proprioception and improve the theories of human motion could be done by three different vias. At first, the sense is analysed in a case-study where three groups of persons are compared in a controlled enviroment with three experimental tasks. The subjects belong to each group by the kind of sport they do: sedentary, normal sportsmen (e.g. athletics, swimming) and martial sportmen (e.g. karate, judo). They are compared thinking about the following hypothesis: “Martial Sportmen have a better proprioception than of the other groups’s subjects: It could be due to the type of exercises they do in their sports as empirically, a contact sportsman shows significantly superior motor skills to the members of the other two groups. The second via are records from encephalogram (EEG) while the experimental tasks are doing. These records are analised a posteriori with a set of processing algorithms to extract characteristics about brain’s activity of the proprioception and motion control. 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