Full Idea
No enquiry is possible without some conceptual scheme, so we may as well retain and use the best one we know.
Gist of Idea
Enquiry needs a conceptual scheme, so we should retain the best available
Source
Willard Quine (Word and Object [1960], §01)
Book Reference
Quine,Willard: 'Word and Object' [MIT 1969], p.4
A Reaction
This remark leads to Davidson's splendid paper 'On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme'. Quine's remark raises the question of how we know which conceptual scheme is 'best'.