Defending Quine on Ontological Commitment

Authors: Emily Gill

Publish Date: 2012

Volume: , Issue: , Pages: 177-190

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Abstract

In this paper I defend a Quinean view on ontological commitment against some recent challenges I outline the virtues and limitations of the Quinean approach before considering two different theories Thomas Hofweber argues that commitment in natural language is ambiguous and that Quine’s canonical notation is incapable of representing the two functions of natural language quantifiers Truthmaker theorists argue that Quine’s approach is based on a fallacious view of the relation between true sentences and the truthmaking domain the world In response I argue that both objections are aimed at a particularly strong version of the Quinean approach and that rather than abandon it we can use these challenges to understand its true value

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