Theories and Things

Here are the most recent writings, some of them unpublished, of the preeminent philosopher of our time. Philosophical reflections on language are brought to bear upon metaphysical and epistemological questions such as these: What does it mean to assume objects, concrete and abstract? How do such assumptions serve science? What is the empirical content of a scientific theory? Further essays deal with meaning, moral values, analytical philosophy and its history, metaphor, the nature of mathematics; several are concerned with logic; and there are essays on individual philosophers. The volume concludes with some general reflections on the contemporary scene and two playful pieces on the Times Atlas and H. L. Mencken.W. V. Quine is always, whatever his subject, an elegant writer, witty, precise, and forceful. Admirers of his earlier books will welcome this new volume.

The elegance, economy, wit and precision of his writing are among the chief glories of modern philosophy. Never have asceticism of method and austerity of vision been so glitteringly displayed… By virtue of intellectual power, range and fertility of ideas and brilliance of presentation, Quine is the most distinguished and influential of living philosophers… To all philosophers…this volume will be a source of intense intellectual pleasure., This is a book to be savored, with a little something for a surprisingly wide variety of tastes. Here is Quine on the marvels of The Times Atlas, the virtues and vices of Mencken’s The American Language, the mixed blessings that result from flush times for academia, and the bleariness of Mortimer Adler’s vision of philosophy. Of course, Quine’s more familiar concerns are also represented, with most of the book’s twenty-six essays being devoted to various aspects of ontology, epistemology, semantics, and logic… Together they make a wonderful selection of fine, sparkling Quine.

W. V. Quine was Edgar Pierce Professor of Philosophy, Harvard University. He wrote twenty-one books, thirteen of them published by Harvard University Press.