Thanks. That is worth noting. My recollection is that Quine denies the existence of analytic statements but doesn’t go as far as to hold that tautological statements are just like regular empirical statements. Logical truths still have some kind of special status for Quine. Plus, I think his reasons for denying analytic truths had very little to do with actually being able to imagine a series of experiences that could change his mind about them– it is one thing to claim that such experiences are possible. Its another thing to claim you have just described that set of experiences.
Finally, I remember thinking Quine was being silly, but it has been a while so I’m going to go read and come back.
Thanks. That is worth noting. My recollection is that Quine denies the existence of analytic statements but doesn’t go as far as to hold that tautological statements are just like regular empirical statements. Logical truths still have some kind of special status for Quine. Plus, I think his reasons for denying analytic truths had very little to do with actually being able to imagine a series of experiences that could change his mind about them– it is one thing to claim that such experiences are possible. Its another thing to claim you have just described that set of experiences.
Finally, I remember thinking Quine was being silly, but it has been a while so I’m going to go read and come back.