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Language, Mind and Epistemology pp 79–95Cite as

Quine and Davidson: Two Naturalized Epistemologists

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Part of the book series: Synthese Library ((SYLI,volume 241))

Abstract

It hardly comes as news to be told that W. V. Quine is a naturalized epistemologist (although just what it means to say that he is might itself be newsworthy). On the other hand, it may come as news to be told that Donald Davidson is a naturalized epistemologist. In what follows, I juxtapose these two approaches to naturalized epistemology and assess Davidson’s reasons for rejecting Quine’s account of the nature of knowledge.

I read this paper to The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in Olso on November 13, 1993. Professors Quine and Davidson were present and responded. I wish to thank them for their comments, and I also wish to thank Professor Dreben for his comments.

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Notes

  1. Quine, W. V. Theories and Things, p. 72, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1981.

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  2. See Quine, The Roots of Reference, pp. 2–3, Open Court Pub. Co., LaSalle, IL, 1974.

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  3. See Gibson, R. F. Jr. Enlightened Empiricism, pp. 30–42, University of South Florida Press, Tampa, 1988.

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  4. See Quine Pursuit of Truth, rev. ed., pp. 20–1, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1992.

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  5. See Quine Ontological Relativity and Other Essays, p. 83, Columbia University Press, New York, 1969.

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  6. See Gibson Enlightened Empiricism, pp. 43–52.

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  7. See Gibson “The Key to Interpreting Quine”, The Southern Journal of Philosophy, XXX, No. 4, pp. 17–30, 1992.

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  8. Ibid.

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  9. Quine “The Nature of Natural Knowledge”, Q g “, in S. Gut[enplan (ed.), Mind and Language, p. 68, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1975.

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  10. Quine Ontological Relativity, pp. 82–3.

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  11. Quine Pursuit of Truth, p. 3.

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  12. Ibid.

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  13. Ibid., p. 1.

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  14. Ibid., p. 7 (my emphasis).

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  15. Ibid., p. 1.

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  16. Ibid., p. 2.

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  17. Quine “Comment on Lauener”, in R. Barrett and R. Gibson (eds.), Perspectives on Quine, p. 229, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1990.

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  18. Quine Pursuit of Truth, p. 19.

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  19. Quine The Roots of Reference, pp. 3–4.

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  20. Davidson, D. Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation, p. y, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1984.

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  21. Quine “Comment on Davidson”, in R. Barrett and R. Gibson (eds.), Perspectives on Quine, p. 80, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1990.

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  22. Davidson, D. “Epistemology Externalized”, Dialectica 45, Nos. 2–3, p. 193, 1991 (my emphasis).

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  23. Davidson, D. “Meaning, Truth and Evidence”, in R. Barrett and R. Gibson (eds.), Perspectives on Quine, p. 76, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1990.

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  24. Ibid., p. 74.

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  25. Ibid.

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  26. Davidson, D. “A Coherence Theory of Truth and Knowledge”, in A.R. Malachowski (ed.), Reading Rorty, p. 124, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1990.

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  27. Ibid., p. 123.

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  28. See Gibson “Quine on the Naturalizing of Epistemology”. Read at the San Marino conference on Quine’s philosophy, May, 1990. To be published in the conference papers during 1994 by Cambridge University Press.

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  29. Quine “In Praise of Observation Sentences”, Journal of Philosophy, XC, No. 3, pp. 110–111, 1993.

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  30. Davidson, D. “Afterthoughts, 1987”, in A.R. Malachowski (ed.), Reading Rorty, p. 136, Basil Blackwell, Oxford, 1990.

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  31. Davidson “Meaning, Truth and Evidence”, p. 75.

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  32. Quine “Comment on Davidson”, p. 80.

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  33. See Quine Pursuit of Truth, pp. 40–44.

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  34. Quine Theories and Things, p. 38. 3s Ibid., p. 39.

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  35. Quine Pursuit of Truth, p. 43.

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  36. Quine Theories and Things, p. 25.

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  37. Quine Pursuit of Truth, p. 43. “Ibid., pp. 41–42.

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  38. This way of putting the matter occurs on p. 42 of the first edition of Pursuit of Truth, 1990; it does not occur in the revised edition.

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  39. See Davidson “Epistemology Externalized”.

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  40. Quine Theories and Things, p. 25.

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  41. Quine Pursuit of Truth, p. 43.

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  42. Quine “In Praise of Observation Sentences”, p. 109.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Roger F. Gibson

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  1. Roger F. Gibson
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Johann W. Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Gerhard Preyer , Frank Siebelt  & Alexander Ulfig ,  & 

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© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Gibson, R.F. (1994). Quine and Davidson: Two Naturalized Epistemologists. In: Preyer, G., Siebelt, F., Ulfig, A. (eds) Language, Mind and Epistemology. Synthese Library, vol 241. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2041-0_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-2041-0_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4392-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-2041-0

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