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Full Idea
No more need be demanded of 'is square' than that our listener learn when to expect us to apply it to an object and when not; there is no need for the phrase itself to be the name in turn of a separate object of any kind.
Gist of Idea
Understanding 'is square' is knowing when to apply it, not knowing some object
Source
Willard Quine (Identity, Ostension, and Hypostasis [1950], 4)
Book Ref
Quine,Willard: 'From a Logical Point of View' [Harper and Row 1963], p.75
| 19382 | Abstracta are abbreviated ways of talking; there are just substances, and truths about them [Leibniz] |
| 4429 | If we consider whiteness to be merely a mental 'idea', we rob it of its universality [Russell] |
| 11099 | Understanding 'is square' is knowing when to apply it, not knowing some object [Quine] |
| 4432 | 'Concept Nominalism' says a 'universal' property is just a mental concept applied to lots of things [Armstrong] |
| 4433 | Concept and predicate nominalism miss out some predicates, and may be viciously regressive [Armstrong] |
| 10400 | Conceptualism says words like 'honesty' refer to concepts, not to properties [Swoyer] |