University of Groningen

Rafts, Boats, and Cruise ShipsVerhaegh, Sander

IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite fromit. Please check the document version below.

Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of record

Publication date:2015

Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database

Citation for published version (APA):Verhaegh, S. (2015). Rafts, Boats, and Cruise Ships: Naturalism and holism in Quine’s philosophy[Groningen]: University of Groningen

CopyrightOther than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of theauthor(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons).

Take-down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediatelyand investigate your claim.

Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons thenumber of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum.

Download date: 11-02-2018

RAFTS, BOATS, AND CRUISE SHIPSNaturalism and Holism in Quine’s Philosophy

SANDER VERHAEGH

R A F T S , B O AT S , A N D C R U I S E S H I P S

© Sander Verhaegh, Groningen, 2015

Cover design: Anne Jansen.Typesetting: This document was typeset using (a modified ver-sion of) classicthesis, a style developed by André Miede andinspired by Robert Bringhurst’s The Elements of Typographic Style.Printed by *studio Michał Sławinski.

This research was funded by the Netherlands Organisation forScientific Research (NWO), Grant 322-20-001.

ISBN: 978-90-367-8255-5ISBN: 978-90-367-8254-8 (e-book)

Rafts, Boats, and Cruise Ships

Naturalism and Holism in Quine’s Philosophy

Proefschrift

ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

op gezag van de rector magnificus prof. dr. E. Sterken

en volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties.

De openbare verdediging zal plaatsvinden op

donderdag 19 november 2015 om 16.15 uur

door

Alexander Alfons Verhaegh

geboren op 18 maart 1986 te Helden

 

Promotor Prof. dr. A.J.M. Peijnenburg Copromotor Dr. A.M. Tamminga Beoordelingscommissie Prof. dr. G. Ebbs Prof. dr. H.J. Glock Prof. dr. L.B. Decock  

C O N T E N T S

list of abbrevations xiiiacknowledgments xxiiilist of publications xxvii

1 introduction 1

1.1 Historical background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.2 Naturalism and holism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1.3 Reading Quine in context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

1.4 Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

i immanent and transcendent 19

2 quine’s argument from despair 21

2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2.2 From certainty to straight psychology . . . . . . . 26

2.3 Two strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

2.4 Self-sufficient sensory languages . . . . . . . . . . 37

2.5 Quine’s response to the sceptic . . . . . . . . . . . 42

2.6 Taking holism seriously . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

2.7 Theory vs. evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

2.8 Reinterpreting “Epistemology Naturalized” . . . 52

3 internal and external questions 57

3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

3.2 Internal and external existence claims . . . . . . . 62

3.3 Two distinctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

3.4 Quine on metaphysical existence claims . . . . . . 74

3.5 Rabbits and complement-rabbits . . . . . . . . . . 80

3.6 The ideal of pure reason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

3.7 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

ix

x contents

4 boarding neurath’s boat 91

4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

4.2 Quinean naturalism decomposed . . . . . . . . . . 93

4.3 Commitment 1: empiricism . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

4.4 Commitment 2: holism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

4.5 Commitment 3: realism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

4.6 Early empiricism and bold behaviorism . . . . . . 102

4.7 Quine’s naturalism in the early 1940s . . . . . . . 105

4.8 Narrow and wide holism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

4.9 Unregenerate realism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

4.10 From nominalism to realism . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

4.11 From phenomenalism to realism . . . . . . . . . . 125

4.12 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

ii naturalism and holism 133

5 varieties of holism 135

5.1 Introduction: the ‘discovery’ of Vulcan . . . . . . . 135

5.2 Evidential holism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

5.3 Falsification and scientific practice . . . . . . . . . 144

5.4 Grünbaum’s argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

5.5 The whole of science? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

5.6 Universal revisability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

5.7 Meaning holism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

5.8 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

6 science , scientism , and sets 173

6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

6.2 Justifying the axioms of set theory . . . . . . . . . 176

6.3 Realism and naturalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

6.4 Pure mathematics vs. pure astrology . . . . . . . . 185

6.5 Mad mathematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

6.6 Open-minded naturalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

6.7 Haack’s argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

6.8 Aposteriorism vs. scientism . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

contents xi

6.9 Quine’s replies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

6.10 SCIENCE vs. science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

6.11 A deflationary theory of justification . . . . . . . . 211

6.12 ‘Traditional epistemology’ revisited . . . . . . . . 213

7 conclusion 219

bibliography 225

samenvatting 269

index 273

L I S T O F A B B R E V I AT I O N S

This section provides a list of abbreviations used in this disserta-tion to refer to W. V. Quine’s (published and unpublished) work.Detailed references can be found in the Bibliography. A com-plete list of Quine’s publications up to 1993 (including reprintsand translations) can be found in Yeghiayan (2009). For an over-view of papers, books, reprints, and translations after 1993, seeDouglas B. Quine’s website http://wvquine.org. The unpub-lished papers, letters, lectures, and notebooks listed below(marked with an asterisk) are stored at the Harvard Deposi-tory and can be accessed at Houghton Library. The documents’call numbers, box numbers, and item numbers are provided inthe Bibliography. A catalogue of much of Quine’s unpublishedwork is provided by Houghton Library at http://oasis.lib.

harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~hou01800.

ANM Animadversion on the Notion of Meaning(1949)

AT* Afterthoughts (1987)

AWVQ Autobiography of W.V. Quine (1986)

BTJ* The Behavioristic Treatment of James’ Theoryof Perception (1930)

CA Carnap (1987)

CB Comment on Berger (1990)

CCE Confessions of a Confirmed Extensionalist andOther Essays (2008)

xiii

xiv abbreviations

CD Contextual Definition (1995)

CGC A Comment on Grünbaum’s Claim (1962)

CH Comment on Haack (1990)

CK Comment on Koppelberg (1990)

CLT Carnap and Logical Truth (1954)

CP Comment on Parsons (1990)

CPT Carnap’s Positivistic Travail (1984)

CNT Comments on Neil Tennant’s “Carnap andQuine” (1994)

CVO Carnap’s Views on Ontology (1951)

CWH* Concepts and Working Hypotheses (1931)

DE Designation and Existence (1939)

EBDQ Exchange Between Donald Davidson and W. V.Quine Following Davidson’s Lecture (1994)

EESW On Empirically Equivalent Systems of theWorld (1975)

EJ* Early Jottings on Philosophy of Language(1937-1944)

EN Epistemology Naturalized (1969)

ENP* Epistemology Naturalized; or, the case forpsychologism (1968)

EQ Existence and Quantification (1969)

FLM* Foundations of a Linguistic Theory of Meaning(1943)

abbreviations xv

FLPV From a Logical Point of View (1953/1961)

FM Facts of the Matter (1977)

FME Five Milestones of Empiricism (1975)

FSS From Stimulus to Science (1995)

GML The Growth of Mind and Language (1997)

GQW Nelson Goodman, W. V. Quine and MortonWhite: A Triangular Correspondence (1947)

GT Grades of Theoreticity (1970)

HO* Holism (1987)

ICQ* In Conversation: Professor W. V. Quine.Interviews by R. Fara (1993)

IKL* The Immanuel Kant Lectures: Science andSensibilia (1980)

ILP The Importance of Logic for Philosophy (1950)

IOH Identity, Ostension, Hypostasis (1946)

IPOS In Praise of Observation Sentences (1993)

IQJ* Interview with Quine for “La Janguardia”(1990)

IV Immanence and Validity (1991)

IWVQ Interview with Willard Van Orman Quine.Interview by L. Bergström and D. Føllesdal(1994)

LAOP A Logistical Approach to the OntologicalProblem (1939)

xvi abbreviations

LC Lectures on Carnap (1934)

LDHP Lectures on David Hume’s Philosophy (1946)

LMAP Let Me Accentuate the Positive (1990)

LSQ* Levine Seminar Questions for Quine (1982)

ME* Mathematical Entities (1950)

ML1 Methods of Logic. First edition (1950)

ML4 Methods of Logic. Fourth edition (1982)

MMT* Mathematics as a Mode of Thought (1930)

MSLT Mr. Strawson on Logical Theory (1953)

MVD Mind and Verbal Dispositions (1975)

N1* Nominalism (1937)

N2 Nominalism (1946)

NDL* The Notre Dame Lectures (1970)

NEN Notes on Existence and Necessity (1943)

NK Natural Kinds (1969)

NLOM Naturalism; Or, Living within One’s Means(1995)

NNK The Nature of Natural Knowledge (1975)

NR* Notes on Reading (undated)

OAM On Austin’s Method (1969)

OE* Ontology and Epistemology (1944)

OK* On the Organization of Knowledge (1927)

abbreviations xvii

OLPL* Oxford Lecture: Philosophy of Logic (1953)

OM* Ontology, Metaphysics, etc... (1944-1951)

OME On Mental Entities (1953)

ON* Ontology Notes (1944)

ONAS On the Notion of an Analytic Statement (1946)

OR Ontological Relativity (1968)

OR67* Ontological Relativity (1967)

ORE Ontological Relativity and other essays (1969)

ORWN Ontological Reduction and the World ofNumbers (1964)

OW Otherworldly (1978)

OWTI On What There Is (1948)

PIP* A Pragmatic Interpretation of Posivitism (1937)

PL Philosophy of Logic (1970/1986)

PML The Problem of Meaning in Linguistics (1953)

PPE The Pragmatists’ Place in Empiricism (1975)

PPLT Philosophical Progress in Language Theory(1970)

PR Posits and Reality (1955)

PT Pursuit of Truth (1990/1992)

PTE* The Place of a Theory of Evidence (1952)

PTF Progress on Two Fronts (1996)

xviii abbreviations

QBC* The Quine-Bergström Correspondence(1988-1996)

QCC The Quine-Carnap Correspondence (1932-1970)

QCC* The Quine-Church Correspondence (1935-1994)

QD Quine in Dialogue (2008)

QGC* The Quine-Goodman Correspondence(1935-1994)

QHC* The Quine-Haack Correspondence (1975-1997)

QHWC* The Quine-Hookway Correspondence (1988)

QKC* The Quine-Koppelberg Correspondence(1981-1994)

QQN* Questions for Quine by Stephen Neale (1986)

QSM Quine Speaks His Mind. An interview by E.Pivcevic (1988)

QU Quiddities (1987)

QWC* The Quine-Woodger Correspondence(1938-1982)

QWVO Quine/’kwain/, Willard Van Orman (b. 1908)(1996)

RA Responses to Articles by Abel Bergström,Davidson, Dreben, Gibson, Hookway, andPrawitz (1994)

RAB Relativism and Absolutism (1984)

RCP Reply to Charles Parsons (1986)

abbreviations xix

RE Reactions (1995)

RES Responses to Szubka, Lehrer, Bergström,Gibson, Miscevic, and Orenstein (1999)

RGH Reply to Geoffrey Hellman (1986)

RHP Reply to Hilary Putnam (1986)

RHW Reply to Hao Wang (1986)

RJV Reply to Jules Vuillemin (1986)

RMW Reply to Morton White (1986)

ROD Russell’s Ontological Development (1966)

RPR Reply to Professor Riska’s Eight Questions(1992)

RR The Roots of Reference (1973)

RRG Reply to Roger F. Gibson, Jr. (1986)

RRN Reply to Robert Nozick (1986)

RWA Reply to William P. Alston (1986)

RS1 Reply to Stroud (1968)

RS2 Reply to Stroud (1981)

RTE Responses to Essays by Smart, Orenstein, Lewisand Holdcroft, and Haack (1997)

SBLM Sellars on Behaviorism, Language and Meaning(1980)

SCN Steps toward a Constructive Nominalism (1947)

SID Soft Impeachment Disowned (1980)

xx abbreviations

SLP Selected Logic Papers (1966/1995)

SLS The Scope and Language of Science (1954)

SM Stimulus and Meaning (1965)

SN Structure and Nature (1992)

SO* Sign and Object; or, The Semantics of Being(1944)

SSE Sticks and Stones; or, The Ins and Outs ofExistence (1984)

SSS The Sensory Support of Science (1986)

STCW On Simple Theories of a Complex World (1960)

STL Set Theory and its Logic (1963/1969)

TC Truth by Convention (1936)

TCL Twentieth-Century Logic. An interview by G.Borradori (1994)

TDE Two Dogmas of Empiricism (1951)

TDR Two Dogmas in Retrospect (1991)

TH* Things (1943)

TI Three Indeterminacies (1990)

TML The Time of My Life (1985)

TO* A Tentative Ontology (1941)

TR Truth (1994)

TT Theories and Things (1981)

TTPT Things and Their Place in Theories (1981)

abbreviations xxi

VD Vagaries of Definition (1972)

VITD On the Very Idea of a Third Dogma (1981)

WB The Web of Belief (1970/1978)

WDWD Where Do We Disagree (1999)

WIB What I Believe (1984)

WMB* What it Means to Be (1944)

WO Word and Object (1960)

WP The Ways of Paradox and other essays (1966/1976)

WPB What Price Bivalence? (1981)

WWI The Way the World Is (1986)

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

Although people often respond with an incredulous stare whenI tell them that I cannot imagine any job more stimulating andrewarding than writing a dissertation, I truly consider myselflucky to have had the opportunity to write this book and todo so in such an inspiring environment. Here, I would like tothank the people who have contributed to this environment.

First and foremost, I would like to thank Jeanne Peijnenburg,without whom I would never have been able to complete thisdissertation in such an untroubled way. In fact, without JeanneI would not have written this book in the first place, as shehas invested an enormous amount of time in helping me turnmy ideas into a successful grant proposal and has sparked myenthusiasm for the history of analytic philosophy with her ex-citing lectures on the subject. In her role as my supervisor,Jeanne has also been an incredibly warm person and tremen-dously generous with her time. Her helpful and constructivecomments and her insightful lessons have contributed to my de-velopment in ways that cannot be overestimated. Jeanne some-how managed to give me all the freedom I needed to followmy own ideas while making sure that everything was headedin the right direction. Thank you, Jeanne, for all your help.

I am also greatly indebted to Allard Tamminga. I have learneda lot while writing a paper with him and I am grateful that hesuggested that I go to Harvard to study Quine’s archives. I ad-mire Allard’s decisiveness as well as his astonishing precision;when Allard gives you feedback, not even a misplaced commain your bibliography is safe. Thank you for all your help asco-supervisor.

xxiii

xxiv acknowledgments

Many others have also contributed to this dissertation. Be-sides those who are thanked in the coming chapters for theirfeedback on particular papers, arguments, and presentations,I would like to thank David Atkinson, Benjamin Bewersdorf,Patryk Dziurosz-Serafinowicz, Rohan French, Leon Geerdink,Ronnie Hermens, Fred Keijzer, Franziska Köder, Barteld Kooi,Bouke Kuijer, Theo Kuipers, Jan Albert van Laar, Yanjun Li,Emar Maier, Catarina Dutilh Novaes, Jan-Willem Romeijn, Mar-ta Sznajder, the members of the PCCP, and the members ofthe Work in Progress group for their helpful comments andsuggestions. For their help with numerous technical and finan-cial issues, I would like to thank Siepie Blom, Trijnie Hekman,Marga Hids, Jorine Janssen, Fré Morrees, Hauke de Vries, andAnita Willems-Veenstra. Finally, I would like to thank KarolinaKrzyzanowska for being a marvellous office companion, theepistemology reading group for the inspiring discussions, andCoos Engelsma, Job de Grefte, Pieter van der Kolk, and TomSterkenburg for the entertaining dinners and drinks, and forthe countless times we went dancing afterwards.

Outside Groningen’s Faculty of Philosophy, I would like tothank Lieven Decock, Gary Ebbs, and Hans-Johann Glock fortheir willingness to participate in the assessment committee;the NWO for supporting my research; the anonymous refereeswho have reviewed the papers on which this book is based fortheir helpful comments; John Christ, Rebecca Faulkner, MarkRichard, and the staff at the Houghton Library for their help inmaking my stay at Harvard easier and more productive; andAnne Jansen for designing such a beautiful cover.

Finally, I would like both to thank my parents and my brotherfor their support and apologize to them for all the occasions onwhich they had to try and explain to others what my disserta-tion is about; to thank Boudewijn Dekker and Michiel Ghijsenfor preparing me for an environment in which everything is upfor debate; to thank Steef Engels, Myrna Eppings, Boy Joosten,

acknowledgments xxv

Tim Vaessen, and the members of the Jaegers for tolerating aphilosopher in their midst; and to thank Emily Miltenburg andPandora for their loving and furry support respectively.

L I S T O F P U B L I C AT I O N S

Parts of this dissertation have been published or are currentlyunder review for publication elsewhere:

Verhaegh, S. (2014). Quine’s Argument from Despair. The BritishJournal for the History of Philosophy, 22(1):150-173 (chapter 2).

Verhaegh, S. (under review-a), Electrons, Elephants, and EmptySets: Quine on Metaphysics and the Internal-External Dis-tinction (chapter 3).

Verhaegh, S. (under review-b), Boarding Neurath’s Boat: TheEarly Development of Quine’s Naturalism (chapter 4).

Tamminga, A. and Verhaegh, S. (2013). Katz’s Revisability Para-dox Dissolved. Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 91(4):771-784 (section 5.6).

Verhaegh, S. (under review-c), Quine: Philosophy of Logic (sec-tion 5.6).

Verhaegh, S. (2013). Quine, Putnam, and the Naturalization ofMetaphysics. In Baumgartner, S., Heisenberg, T., andKrebs, S. (eds.). Metaphysics or Modernity? (pp. 249-269). Uni-versity of Bamberg Press, Bamberg (section 6.6).

Verhaegh, S. (under review-d), Rafts and Cruise Ships: Quine’sNaturalism Disambiguated (sections 6.7-6.12).

xxvii