Abstract
Philosophical analysis is for Quine the replacement of a defective expression by another, sound expression, which performs the same work. In general, then, an analysis consists of two stages: (a) identifying the work that a defective expression performs, and (b) imbedding it in a safe domain. In this essay I argue that Quine's view does not truly reflect what we do in philosophy. The problem, I think, lies in both stages (a) and (b), but stems from Quine's assumption that we can control the work perforated by language.
Original language | American English |
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Pages (from-to) | 587-596 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Metaphilosophy |
Volume | 33 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2002 |
Keywords
- Definition
- Essence
- Philosophical analysis/explication
- Quine