W. V. Quine (1908–2000) was quite simply the most distinguished analytic philosopher of the later half of the twentieth century. His celebrated attack on the analytic/synthetic tradition heralded a major shift away from the views of language descended from logical positivism. His most important book, Word and Object, introduced the concept of indeterminacy of radical translation, a bleak view of the nature of the language with which we ascribe thoughts and beliefs to ourselves and others. Quine is also famous for the view that epistemology should be naturalized, that is conducted in a scientific spirit with the object of investigating the relationship between the inputs of experience and the outputs of belief. The eleven essays in this volume cover all the central topics of Quine's philosophy: the underdetermination of physical theory, analycity, naturalism, propositional attitudes, behaviorism, reference and ontology, positivism, holism and logic.

W. V. Quine (1908–2000) was quite simply the most distinguished analytic philosopher of the later half of the twentieth century. His celebrated attack on the analytic/synthetic tradition heralded a major shift away from the views of language descended from logical positivism. His most important book, Word and Object, introduced the concept of indeterminacy of radical translation, a bleak view of the nature of the language with which we ascribe thoughts and beliefs to ourselves and others. Quine is also famous for the view that epistemology should be naturalized, that is conducted in a scientific spirit with the object of investigating the relationship between the inputs of experience and the outputs of belief. The eleven essays in this volume cover all the central topics of Quine's philosophy: the underdetermination of physical theory, analycity, naturalism, propositional attitudes, behaviorism, reference and ontology, positivism, holism and logic.

Through the first half of the twentieth century, analytic philosophy was dominated by Russell, Wittgenstein, and Carnap. Influenced by Russell and especially by Carnap, another towering figure, Willard Van Orman Quine (1908-2000) emerged as the most important proponent of analytic philosophy during the second half of the century. Yet with twenty-three books and countless articles to his credit-including, most famously, Word and Object and "Two Dogmas of Empiricism"-Quine remained a philosopher's philosopher, largely unknown to the general public. Quintessence for the first time collects Quine's classic essays (such as "Two Dogmas" and "On What There Is") in one volume-and thus offers readers a much-needed introduction to his general philosophy. Divided into six parts, the thirty-five selections take up analyticity and reductionism; the indeterminacy of translation of theoretical sentences and the inscrutability of reference; ontology; naturalized epistemology; philosophy of mind; and extensionalism. Representative of Quine at his best, these readings are fundamental not only to an appreciation of the philosopher and his work, but also to an understanding of the philosophical tradition that he so materially advanced.

How we acquire our theory of the world is for W. V. Quine the central question of epistemology. Gibson sets forth Quine's philosophy as a systematic attempt to answer this question; his analysis challenges those who might view Quine's theses as multifarious and disparate.

Since many studies of Quine either attack of defend positions on specific issues, the broad scope of this essay makes it unusually valuable to philosophy students and to the general reader.

"An eminently useful first step toward a full-scale evaluation of one of the most distinguished of contemporary philosophers and an excellent initiation to an important section of contemporary philosophy." - Jaakko Hintikka, Florida State University

"Superbly organized and documented and sensitive to Quine's chronological development. Gibson makes a convincing case for viewing Quine's philosophy as centrally epistemological, and Quine's austere edifice looks more impressive than ever." -- "Ethics"

"An accurate, straightforward, sympathetic summary and exposition, useful to students who would like an overview of Quine's philosophy." - Gilbert Harman, Princeton University

"Presents Quine's philosophy as a systematic philosophy in a clear and plausible way; it provides a general and connected view of Quine's many contributions, a view that could only be obtained otherwise by a lengthy study of the original sources." - Henry Kyburg, Jr., University of Rochester