“The word 'definition' has come to have a dangerously reassuring sound, owing no doubt to its frequent occurrence in logical and mathematical writings.” WritingSoundDoubtDefinitionsMathematicalNo DoubtLogicalOwingReassuring Book:From a Logical Point of View: 9 Logico-philosophical Essays Source: From a Logical Point of View: 9 Logico-philosophical Essays
“Scientific method is the way to truth, but it affords, even in principle, no unique definition of truth. Any so-called pragmatic definition of truth is doomed to failure equally.” WayTruthSciencePrinciplesTruth IsUniqueMethodDefinitionsDoomedPragmaticScientific MethodPragmatism Book:Word and Object Source: Word and Object
“Physical objects are conceptually imported into the situation as convenient intermediaries not by definition in terms of experience, but simply as irreducible posits comparable, epistemologically, to the gods of Homer . . . For my part I do, qua lay physicist, believe in physical objects and not in Homer's gods; and I consider it a scientific error to believe otherwise. But in point of epistemological footing, the physical objects and the gods differ only in degree and not in kind. Both sorts of entities enter our conceptions only as cultural posits.” BelieveKindTermSituationObjectsDegreesLaysErrorsDefinitionsConceptionEntityPhysicistConvenient Book:Quintessence: Basic Readings from the Philosophy of W.V. Quine Source: Quintessence: Basic Readings from the Philosophy of W.V. Quine
“If pressed to supplement Tweedledee's ostensive definition of logic with a discursive definition of the same subject, I would say that logic is the systematic study of the logical truths. Pressed further, I would say that a sentence is logically true if all sentences with its grammatical structure are true. Pressed further still, I would say to read this book.” IfsStillsBookStudySubjectsLogicStructureDefinitionsSentencesLogicalSystematicSupplements Author:Willard Van Orman Quine
