Analyzing Quine s Thesis On The Nature Of The World

Things and their Place in Theories This paper discusses Quine’s thesis on the nature of our ideas and how they are used in order to make sense of the world, and decide what can be said to be reality. Quine begins his paper by discussing our knowledge of external things and how we can come to know what we know. On page two of Things and their Place in Theories, Quine states, â€Å"there is nothing we can be more confident of than external things,† meaning that the pieces of knowledge we can be most sure of are things that are discovered a posteriori, after sufficient empirical evidence is gathered. This quote shows that Quine denies the notion of foundationalism and believes that there is no piece of knowledge that can be said to be a base for all other knowledge. Instead of having a foundationalist view on the world, Quine believes in naturalism. Quine reveals that he has a naturalistic â€Å"unswerving belief in external things, [like] people, nerve endings, sticks, stones,† (Quine, ‘Things†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ p. 21) and he says that the identification and description of all things external to us is to be found in science itself, and not in some prior philosophy (Quine, ‘Things†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ p. 21). His view on nature supports Professor Smith’s statement that the world is something that is made through empirical knowledge, and not an already existing entity that is discovered. Quine says, â€Å"Scientists and philosophers seek a comprehensive system of the world,† (Quine, ‘Things†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ p. 9) and the way to do this isShow MoreRelatedStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 Pagesand permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval sy stem, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. To obtain permission(s) to use material from this work, please submit a written request to Pearson Education, Inc., Permissions Department, One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458, or you may fax your request to 201-236-3290. Many of the designations by manufacturersRead MoreLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 PagesDo you know the time? it is illogical to answer only Yes and walk away─ unless you are trying to irritate the person who asked the question. Real life decision-making often must work in a dynamic, unpredictable environment. In the business world, new competitors appear, prices rise or fall, opportunities that were available at one time are not available at another. The uncritical decision maker is unaware of these changes and continues to make decisions as if in the old environment. Alert