A study on analyticity in the philosophy of Quine: latter views

• Grant number: 15/05395-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: July 10, 2015
• End date: January 09, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - Epistemology
• Principal Investigator: Marco Antonio Caron Ruffino
• Grantee: Leonardo Gomes de Soutello Videira
• Supervisor: Gary Neville Kemp
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Glasgow, Scotland
• Associated to the scholarship: 14/06919-9 - A study on analyticity in the philosophy of Quine, BP.MS

Abstract

This research is part of a larger investigation about the different positions developed by Quine on the clarity and usefulness of analyticity in a theory of knowledge. At first, he dismissed the notion tagging it as a "metaphysical article of faith" , claiming that it was unintelligible, therefore should be abandoned. That was a very important step for the development of his holistic theory. In addition, years later, in his Word and Object (1960), he developed a rather more complete theory about signification and translation, dismissing the basic notions for analyticity comprehension, namely, meaning and synonymy. However, he admitted that there was a very close feature of language that he called stimulus analyticity that could perform the role of analyticity in some aspects. In his latter works, Roots of Reference (1973) and Pursuit of Truth (1992), Quine changed his mind once again and openly accepted the notion of synonymy, allowing us to explain analyticity. My aim in this research is to find the reasons that have led him to the acceptance of the notions of synonymy and analyticity, and to understand the consequences of this for his theory of knowledge, more precisely for his holism. (AU)