Willard van Orman Quine quotes - page 2

Tactically, conceptualism is no doubt the strongest position of the three; for the tired nominalist can lapse into conceptualism and still allay his puritanic conscience with the reflection that he has not quite taken to eating lotus with the Platonists. (Willard van Orman Quine)
We cannot stem linguistic change, but we can drag our feet. View quote
Willard van Orman Quine
Our argument is not flatly circular, but something like it. View quote
Willard van Orman Quine
Another effect is a shift toward pragmatism. View quote
Willard van Orman Quine
My countersuggestion, issuing essentially from Carnap's doctrine of the physical world in the Aufbau, is that our statements about the external world face the tribunal of sense experience not individually but only as a corporate body. View quote
Willard van Orman Quine
It is one of the consolations of philosophy that the benefit of showing how to dispense with a concept does not hinge on dispensing with it. View quote
Willard van Orman Quine
Meaning is what essence becomes when it is divorced from the object of reference and wedded to the word. View quote
Willard van Orman Quine
One man's observation is another man's closed book or flight of fancy. View quote
Willard van Orman Quine
The familiar material objects may not be all that is real, but they are admirable examples. View quote
Willard van Orman Quine
We do not learn first what to talk about and then what to say about it. View quote
Willard van Orman Quine
Confusion of sign and object is original sin coeval with the word. (Willard van Orman Quine)
We cannot stem linguistic change, but we can drag our feet. If each of us were to defy Alexander Pope and be the last to lay the old aside, it might not be a better world, but it would be a lovelier language. View quote
Willard van Orman Quine