more from Willard Quine

Single Idea 9337

[catalogued under 12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 11. Denying the A Priori]

Full Idea

Quine says scientific beliefs follow empirical adequacy, simplicity and conservatism; science and rationality support this view; hence any hypothesis can be abandoned to increase simplicity; so no scientific belief is a priori.

Gist of Idea

Science is empirical, simple and conservative; any belief can hence be abandoned; so no a priori

Source

report of Willard Quine (Two Dogmas of Empiricism [1953]) by Paul Horwich - Stipulation, Meaning and Apriority §10

Book Reference

'New Essays on the A Priori', ed/tr. Boghossian,P /Peacocke,C [OUP 2000], p.166


A Reaction

[Compressed] I just don't accept this claim. If science wants to drop simple arithmetic or the laws of thought, so much the worse for science - they've obviously taken a wrong turning somewhere. We must try to infer God's logic.