Hilary Putnam on Quine & Ontology

In American Philosopher #31, Hilary Putnam explains and critiques two aspects of W.V.O. Quine's view on ontology as well as a similar view held by G.E. Moore in ethics.

Interview, music, and video by Phillip McReynolds

[ZKris-rmcw]

Dis man is a real good professor. He make complicated things simple.

[DanaGarrett]

Great synopsis of Quine's thought. I agree with with Putnam. Ontological commitments to abstract, causally-inert (perfect expression) entities are too much to chew. Still, Quine had such a singular and great mind. Some of his books were so compelling I reread them.

[americanphilosopher]

Agreed! The Web of Belief, in particular made a tremendous difference to me and clearly shows Quine's pragmatist influences/tendencies which came to him by way of C.I. Lewis, I suppose.

[longcastle]

Really wish people would give date and circumstances of the original program in the description when releasing these. Putnam died, btw, in 2016

[sebastianquilt]

Quine was bar-none the best writer of philosophy in the English language since Russell. The web of belief and the Pursuit of Truth and Theories and Things were amazing.

[havenbastion]

All that exists is physical objects, but we have metaphors for certain parts of those objects, such as mind being the patterns in the brain, and emotions being part of minds, etc. which do real work irrespective of the disconnect from the complexity of their physical substrate.

[Electrosalas]

the positivists were right in saying that there are some pseudo questions in philosophy ¿¿??

[MrPtrlix]

As far as I understand Quine, his ontology is also different from other traditional approaches to ontology in that for Quine, existing objects do not have to exist. I don't mean that their existence is not necessary but contingent, or that they may not have existed in another possible world: but that if we wish them to stop existing, they merely can. Moreover, this applies both to physical and non-physical objects.

We say, for example, that numbers and sub-atomic quarks exist. (I'm not up to date with physics, but I think subatomic particles are not yet diretcly observed, but only postulated to explain the observed data). Quine argues that the moment we stop using mathematics or physics, these entities cease to exist.

[michaelpark]

So Putnam argues that abstract nonphysical thought and objects do not exist. I'm interested in his argument.

[mitchellkato]

Putnam said there are "numbers and sets". I don't know the whole story. The mathematicians wanted to reduce everything into logic. They found that to be not possible. We need in addition this thing called "set theory"(and its axiom) because of Russell's paradox. I guess when Putnam says "numbers and sets", by "sets" he meant axiomatic sets.

[sasanovakovic]

I’m not sure this is right interpretation of Quine since Quine was not „metaphysician“ or "ontologist" at all. His philosophical concerns were in the field of language analysis and logic, not in metaphysics. In "On what there is" Quine explicitly stated that he is not talking of what there really is (in metaphysical sense) but rather what our language says there is. He says the former is the “other question”, that is, the question of metaphysics. Consequently he doesn’t make equitation mark between language and metaphysics. And this is precisely the line that divides logic and semantic analysis of language from metaphysical concerns or level of investigation. 

[saimbhat]

Hillary putnum is possibly the most uninteresting thinker of the recent past. "Had a bad influence on metaphysics"!? Well so what? You don't like it?

[tibbinsobserver]

Causally inert objects? Like elementary particles?!

[quantumfineartsandfossils]

holy fuck this is all I think about analyze naturally since birth fuckign genius "committed myself to abstract entities" YES PLEASE SAVE ME FROM THEM PLEASE SAVE US!!!!

[quantumfineartsandfossils]

yes this is what I tried to explain to Sean carroll you see both you just have to see both or all choices regardless of which choice you (& others.. ) are either forced to take or if you can fulfill the ideal with resources including other conscious moral ethical individuals as recourses because memory does not escape it is just we have never accessed it before but it is all still there 

[mitchellkato]

Putnam is Quine's colleague?? I think Quine's scientific behaviorism is much more influencial than Putnam.

[cherubsasquatch]

Why does everything that exists exist? Cuz it exists...micdrop

[cherubsasquatch]

Jesus Christ died and rose to justify you before Him, a Holy God

[springinfialta]

Quine, Wittgenstein, etc. are all essentially anti-philosophers and yet philosophers drool over them. Where does this self-loathing come from?

[onkarvigy]

“All theories are false;Some are useful “-Albert Einstein.
There is no Subject but only (subjective ) predicates!!which may be more real!!!