Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-fnpn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-30T05:30:00.212Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ontology and the Theory of Meaning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

Richard L. Cartwright
Richard L. Cartwright*
Affiliation:
University of Michigan
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In a number of essays published over the last decade or so, W. V. Quine has made some interesting suggestions concerning the ontology of theories. (3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 9; 10) If I understand him correctly, one of his principal objects has been to formulate a criterion by means of which one can correctly decide what are the ontological commitments of any given theory. My aim in this paper is to reveal what I think are inadequacies in Quine's criterion and to indicate the direction in which a proper formulation lies.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 21 , Issue 4 , October 1954 , pp. 316 - 325
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1954

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Church, A., “The Need for Abstract Entities in Semantic Analysis,” Proc. of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. LXXX (1951), pp. 100–108.Google Scholar
2. Quine, W. V., “New Foundations for Mathematical Logic,” American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. XLIV (1937), pp. 70–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3. Quine, W. V., “Designation and Existence,” Journal of Philosophy, Vol. XXXVI (1939), pp. 701–709.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4. Quine, W. V., “Notes on Existence and Necessity,” ibid., Vol. XL (1943), pp. 113–127.Google Scholar
5. Quine, W. V., “On Universals,” Journal of Symbolic Logic, Vol. XII (1947), pp. 74–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6. Quine, W. V., “On What There Is,” Review of Metaphysics, Vol. II (1948), pp. 21–38.Google Scholar
7. Quine, W. V., “Semantics and Abstract Objects,” Proc. of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. LXXX (1951), pp. 90–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8. Quine, W. V., Mathematical Logic, Revised edition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1951.10.4159/9780674042469CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9. Quine, W. V., “Ontology and Ideology,” Philosophical Studies, Vol. II (1951), pp. 11–15.10.1007/BF02198233CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10. Quine, W. V., “On Carnap's Views on Ontology,” ibid., pp. 65–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11. Quine, W. V., From a Logical Point of View. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953.Google Scholar