Ontology recapitulates philology: Willard Quine, pragmatism, and radical behaviorism

Abstract

Willard Van Orman Quine died on Christmas Day, 2000, at the age of 92. He was possibly the greatest living American philosopher, and he was a member of the editorial board of this journal since its origin in 1972. Appropriately enough, he was cited three times in two articles appearing in the issue just preceding his death. He lived what appears to have been a wonderful life, described in his autobiography, The Time of My Life, published in 1985 and reprinted in 2000—a life of travel, prestigious awards, and impressive scholarship mixed with humor, elegant dinners, fine wines, Harvard, and Beacon Hill. I will first describe briefly the range and the depth of Quine’s contributions, not necessarily those that touch directly on psychology. The total of his work ranges from the logical bases of mathematics through Quiddities (1987) to references to Monty Python. Then I will comment on his relation to psychology and to B. F. Skinner. He was influenced by and must have influenced Skinner, particularly concerning the nature of language and the heavy reliance on context to define meaning. Or did the influence run the other way—did Skinner convince Quine that language was crucial? In any event, Quine and Skinner shared the view that private experience and self-awareness are tied inextricably to language and thus are largely a creation of the verbal community. Finally, I will describe Quine’s questioning of the distinction between analytic and synthetic propositions, which promoted a pragmatism that was not clearly to Skinner’s taste but which follows from some interpretations of Skinner’s doctrines and has been promoted by his descendants. Quine’s “wonderful life” began in relatively humble beginnings in Akron, Ohio, followed by study at Oberlin College and at Harvard. The Oberlin undergraduate degree took four years and he said that his A-minus average testified that, “. . . my seriousness had not been unflagging” (Quine, 1987, p. 73). He had done well in his major, mathematics, but felt that he had not always

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