Gillian Russell
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199232192
- eISBN:
- 9780191715907
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232192.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
Definitions have often thought to be crucial to the debate over the analytic/synthetic distinction. They have seemed to provide clear examples of synonymy which are well-entrenched in scientific and ...
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Definitions have often thought to be crucial to the debate over the analytic/synthetic distinction. They have seemed to provide clear examples of synonymy which are well-entrenched in scientific and mathematical practice. This chapter re-examines the properties of definitions in the light of our rejection of the Language Myth. The resulting account allows us both to explain Quine's sometimes puzzling views on definition, and to defend the analytic/synthetic distinction against his doctrine of the transience of definition.Less
Definitions have often thought to be crucial to the debate over the analytic/synthetic distinction. They have seemed to provide clear examples of synonymy which are well-entrenched in scientific and mathematical practice. This chapter re-examines the properties of definitions in the light of our rejection of the Language Myth. The resulting account allows us both to explain Quine's sometimes puzzling views on definition, and to defend the analytic/synthetic distinction against his doctrine of the transience of definition.
Jay F. Rosenberg
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199573301
- eISBN:
- 9780191722172
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199573301.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter reviews Sellars's arguments for the ultimate ontological primacy of the ‘scientific image’ over the ‘manifest image’, despite the fact that the manifest image is essential to the ...
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This chapter reviews Sellars's arguments for the ultimate ontological primacy of the ‘scientific image’ over the ‘manifest image’, despite the fact that the manifest image is essential to the constitution of humanity. In order better to understand the relation Sellars takes to hold between the objects of the manifest image and ‘theoretical’ postulates of the sciences, the fundamental conception of scientific explanation in Sellars's philosophy is taken into account. It is argued that ‘already within the manifest image, the epistemology of natural science is arguably best understood in Sellarsian terms as a systematic working out of an ontological dialectic of appearance vs. reality’. In Sellars's view, then, the ontological primacy of the scientific image is simply a consequence of commitments already present in the manifest image.Less
This chapter reviews Sellars's arguments for the ultimate ontological primacy of the ‘scientific image’ over the ‘manifest image’, despite the fact that the manifest image is essential to the constitution of humanity. In order better to understand the relation Sellars takes to hold between the objects of the manifest image and ‘theoretical’ postulates of the sciences, the fundamental conception of scientific explanation in Sellars's philosophy is taken into account. It is argued that ‘already within the manifest image, the epistemology of natural science is arguably best understood in Sellarsian terms as a systematic working out of an ontological dialectic of appearance vs. reality’. In Sellars's view, then, the ontological primacy of the scientific image is simply a consequence of commitments already present in the manifest image.
