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Single Idea 1626

[from 'Two Dogmas of Empiricism' by Willard Quine, in 19. Language / A. Nature of Meaning / 1. Meaning ]

Full Idea

My present suggestion is that it is nonsense, and the root of much nonsense, to speak of a linguistic component and a factual component in the truth of any individual statement.

Gist of Idea

It is troublesome nonsense to split statements into a linguistic and a factual component

Source

Willard Quine (Two Dogmas of Empiricism [1953], p.42)

Book Reference

Quine,Willard: 'From a Logical Point of View' [Harper and Row 1963], p.42


A Reaction

I take the language and its subject matter to be obviously separate, but it is right that we can't separate these two components within a sample of language.