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Full Idea
Quine's well-known slogan "no entity without identity" means that no object should be admitted into our ontology unless its identity conditions, the conditions that say which object it is, have been settled.
Clarification
Our 'ontology' is what we believe exists
Gist of Idea
"No entity without identity" - our ontology must contain items with settled identity conditions
Source
report of Willard Quine (Speaking of Objects [1960]) by Joseph Melia - Modality Ch.4
Book Ref
Melia,Joseph: 'Modality' [Acumen 2003], p.95
A Reaction
This invites science fiction scenarios, where we admit the existence of something before we have a clue what it is (whether it is physical, hallucination, divine..). Quine's slogan seems attractive but optimistic. How 'settled'?
| 5747 | "No entity without identity" - our ontology must contain items with settled identity conditions [Quine, by Melia] |
| 13387 | Our conceptual scheme becomes more powerful when we posit abstract objects [Quine] |
| 7925 | There is no proper identity concept for properties, and it is hard to distinguish one from two [Quine] |
| 8277 | I prefer 'no object without identity' to Quine's 'no entity without identity' [Lowe on Quine] |
| 1630 | We can only see an alien language in terms of our own thought structures (e.g. physical/abstract) [Quine] |
| 1631 | You could know the complete behavioural conditions for a foreign language, and still not know their beliefs [Quine] |
| 1632 | Translation of our remote past or language could be as problematic as alien languages [Quine] |