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Single Idea 18964

[from 'Ontological Relativity' by Willard Quine, in 7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 11. Ontological Commitment / d. Commitment of theories ]

Full Idea

Ontology is doubly relative. Specifying the universe of a theory makes sense only relative to some background theory, and only relative to some choice of a manual of translation of one theory into another.

Gist of Idea

Ontology is relative to both a background theory and a translation manual

Source

Willard Quine (Ontological Relativity [1968], p.54)

Book Reference

Quine,Willard: 'Ontological Relativity and Other Essays' [Columbia 1969], p.54


A Reaction

People tend to forget about the double nature of Quine's notion of ontological commitment, and usually only talk about the commitment of the theory being employed. Why is the philosophical community not devoting itself to the study of tranlation manuals?