WORD AND OBJECT STUDIES IN COMMUNICATION

2013 Reprint of 1960 Edition Full facsimile of the original edition not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software Willard Van Orman Quine begins this influential work by declaring Language is a social art In acquiring it we have to depend entirely on intersubjectively available cues as to what to say and when With Word and Object Quine challenged the tradition of conceptual analysis as a way of advancing knowledge The book signaled twentiethcentury philosophys turn away from metaphysics and what has been called the phony precision of conceptual analysis In the course of his discussion of meaning and the linguistic mechanisms of objective reference Quine considers the indeterminacy of translation brings to light the anomalies and conflicts implicit in our languages referential apparatus clarifies semantic problems connected with the imputation of existence and marshals reasons for admitting or repudiating each of various categories of supposed objects A profoundly influential work