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Ideas for 'Mahaprajnaparamitashastra', 'Two Dogmas of Empiricism' and 'The Case against Closure (and reply)'

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2 ideas

9. Objects / A. Existence of Objects / 1. Physical Objects

1628	If physical objects are a myth, they are useful for making sense of experience [Quine]
	Full Idea: The myth of physical objects is epistemologically superior to most in that it has proved more efficacious than other myths as a device for working a manageable structure into the flux of experience.
	From: Willard Quine (Two Dogmas of Empiricism [1953], p.44)

9. Objects / D. Essence of Objects / 15. Against Essentialism

10929	Aristotelian essence of the object has become the modern essence of meaning [Quine]
	Full Idea: The Aristotelian notion of essence was the forerunner of the modern notion of intension or meaning. ...Meaning is what essence becomes when it is divorced from the object of reference and wedded to the word.
	From: Willard Quine (Two Dogmas of Empiricism [1953], §1)
	A reaction: Quine first wants to jettison de re necessity (essence of the object), by shifting it to de dicto necessity (necessity in meaning), but he subsequently rejects that as well, presumably because he doesn't even believe in meanings.