Full Idea
Philosophy is in large part concerned with ...what science could get along with, could be reconstructed by means of, as distinct from what science has historically made us of.
Gist of Idea
Philosophy is largely concerned with finding the minimum that science could get by with
Source
Willard Quine (Mr Strawson on Logical Theory [1953], V)
Book Reference
Quine,Willard: 'Ways of Paradox and other essays' [Harvard 1976], p.151
A Reaction
This nicely summarises the programme for the whole of the philosophy of David Lewis, who was Quine's pupil. If you start by asking what it could 'get by with', it is not surprising that simplicity is the top intellectual virtue for both of them.