Single Idea 19050

[catalogued under 19. Language / E. Analyticity / 4. Analytic/Synthetic Critique]

Full Idea

Holism blurs the supposed contrast beween the synthetic sentence, with its empirical content, and the analytic sentence, with its null content.

Gist of Idea

Holism in language blurs empirical synthetic and empty analytic sentences

Source

Willard Quine (Five Milestones of Empiricism [1975], p.71)

Book Reference

Quine,Willard: 'Theories and Things' [Harvard 1981], p.71


A Reaction

This spells out nicely that Quine's rejection of the distinction is completely tied to his holistic view of language. The obvious phenomenon of compositionality (building sentence meaning in steps) counts against holism.

Related Idea

Idea 19049 In scientific theories sentences are too brief to be independent vehicles of empirical meaning [Quine]