Main Trends in Recent Philosophy¶
Quine, W. V. (1951). Main Trends in Recent Philosophy: Two Dogmas of Empiricism. The Philosophical Review, 60(1), 20-43.
Cited by¶
6 citations across 6 artifacts.
Each citation links to the sentence it supports in the citing article.
Primes¶
- Assumption
- The pattern licenses several cross-domain disciplines that all follow from its structure: sensitivity analysis (what range of assumption values yields what range of conclusion values), the inventory of implied warranties, the pre-mortem (what assumption must fail for the plan to fail), and the recognition that empirical theories are tested holistically rather than proposition-by-proposition.
This sourceArgues that theories face the tribunal of experience holistically, not statement by statement (the Duhem–Quine thesis).
- The pattern licenses several cross-domain disciplines that all follow from its structure: sensitivity analysis (what range of assumption values yields what range of conclusion values), the inventory of implied warranties, the pre-mortem (what assumption must fail for the plan to fail), and the recognition that empirical theories are tested holistically rather than proposition-by-proposition.
- Holism
- Philosophy: Quine's confirmation holism in Two Dogmas of Empiricism (1951)
This sourceQuine Two Dogmas confirmation holism
- Philosophy: Quine's confirmation holism in Two Dogmas of Empiricism (1951)
- Underspecification
- It is the formal inverse of equifinality: where equifinality names many causes producing the same outcome, underspecification names the same outcome admitting many causes, with the selector trying to pick one.
This sourceArgues evidence underdetermines theory — the Quine–Duhem thesis that a body of data is consistent with multiple theoretical adjustments — the epistemic origin of underspecification.
- It is the formal inverse of equifinality: where equifinality names many causes producing the same outcome, underspecification names the same outcome admitting many causes, with the selector trying to pick one.
Domain-specific¶
Mechanisms¶
- Assumption Audit Worksheet
- This is the practical face of the Duhem–Quine problem: a prediction is never tested in isolation but together with a web of background assumptions
This sourceArgues that statements face experience as a corporate body, so a failed prediction can be absorbed by revising other commitments in the surrounding web.
- This is the practical face of the Duhem–Quine problem: a prediction is never tested in isolation but together with a web of background assumptions
- First-Principles Statement
- First principles are starting points selected for a purpose, not self-evident foundations,
This sourceRejects unrevisable self-evident foundations and treats starting commitments as pragmatically revisable.
- First principles are starting points selected for a purpose, not self-evident foundations,
Verification¶
Does it exist? Confirmed. This work's DOI resolves to a registered record, which fixes its identity. That is all it fixes.
Does it back the claim? Not recorded. Neither this nor any other of the 6 citations of this work carries a recorded support check.
Support is checked per citation rather than per work — the same source can be cited soundly in one article and wrongly in another. Per-citation recording began recently, so a citation with no recorded check is a gap in the record rather than evidence it went unchecked.
See how references were verified.
Registry ID ref:89366f48d811 · see in the full table