more from Willard Quine

Single Idea 1618

[catalogued under 5. Theory of Logic / E. Structures of Logic / 4. Variables in Logic]

Full Idea

We look to bound variables in connection with ontology not in order to know what there is, but in order to know what a given remark or doctrine, ours or someone else's, says there is.

Gist of Idea

We study bound variables not to know reality, but to know what reality language asserts

Source

Willard Quine (On What There Is [1948], p.15)

Book Reference

Quine,Willard: 'From a Logical Point of View' [Harper and Row 1963], p.15