Quine's Physicalist Epistemology
Quine, in his article "In Praise of the Observational Sentence," claims to establish naturalized epistemology and the work of science as a realist mapping of the world. Invoking Rorty's criticisms of foundationalism from Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, this paper analyzes Quine's observational sentence by discussing the unresolved issue of justification. It discusses whether a causal explanation can be a justified true belief and adequate "grounding" of knowledge. I suggest that the criticisms of Quine bypass similarities between Rorty's position and Quine's. Such polemic positions - characteristic of the postmodern/modern debate - imply a false dichotomy. These criticisms of justification and grounding are best understood as a means to argue for eclectic viewpoints of human understanding. I conclude that Wittgenstein's idea of "human life form," or world-picture, provides further context for insisting upon interdisciplinary dialogue in lieu of an assumed hierarchy of specialized sciences.
In his Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature, Richard Rorty argues that Quine's doctrines of indeterminacy of translation and ontological relativity call for the end of epistemology. Nonetheless, Rorty criticizes Quine's physicalist stance. According to Rorty, Quine's claim that observation sentences are a foundation for empiricism contains a contradictory ontological bias. In a more recent article "In Praise of the Observation Sentence" (1993), Quine allegedly clarifies his physicalist epistemology addressing criticisms analogous to Rorty's. Quine states that naturalized epistemology is not a theory about an "internal domain of qualia;" it is an "intermediate position" between what Quine calls "old phenomenalism" and anti-epistemology. (1) He argues that observation sentences entail observations of the world itself that are not entirely subjective. Consequently, in comparison to "old," that is, analytical phenomenalism, Quine claims that his use of language and logic is a "more realistic rational reconstruction" of knowledge. (2) In this paper, I examine Rorty's challenge that Quine's physicalist claims are contradictory and Quine's recent defense. I conclude that Quine's position is not inconsistent although his "intermediate position" within epistemology remains controversial.
Overview of Quine's Intermediate Position on Observation
For Quine, classical epistemology has its most recent roots in British Empiricism. Consequently, according to Quine, epistemology's primary concern has been to clarify how we derive natural knowledge from sense data. The link between observation and the natural world is allegedly a resource for privileged access to such natural knowledge. Quine in parallel to classical epistemology asserts that "perceptual similarity is the basis of all learning, all habit formation, and it is testable in people and other animals by the reinforcement and extinction of conditional response.
The essay starts off by stating, “One could say that the dominant scientific world-view going into the 16th century was not all that “scientific” in the modern sense of the
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a muscular dystrophy that only occurs in boys. It is caused by the mutation of the DMD gene which is inheritable between families in an X-linked recessive, but it rarely occurs in people from families without a known family history of the condition. Starting from the lower limbs, people with DMD have progressive loss of muscle function and weakness. The DMD gene, which encodes the muscle protein, dystrophin, is the second largest gene. Boy’s muscle with Duchenne muscular dystrophy does not create the dystrophin. 1 in 3500 of the male births are approximately affected by the Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Physiological Basis of disease: DMD is the commonest and most serious form of the dystrophies. The gene responsible for dystrophin which, when absent, causes DMD. Amount of dystrophin correlates with the severity of the disease (i.e., the less dystrophin present, the more severe the phenotype). Since the gene is on the X chromosome, it primarily affects males, and females who are carriers have milder symptoms ( www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000705.htm).
The philosophical theory of dualism holds that mind and body are two separate entities. While dualism presupposes that the two ‘substances’ may interact, it contrasts physicalism by refusing to denote correlation between body and mind as proof of identity. Comparing the two theories, dualism’s invulnerable proof of the existence of qualia manages to evade arguments from physicalism. While a common argument against qualia—non-physical properties defined in Jackson’s Knowledge Argument—targets the unsound nature of epiphenomenalism, this claim is not fatal to the theory of dualism as it contains claims of causation and fails to stand resolute to the conceivability of philosophical zombies. This essay argues that epiphenomenalism, while often designated as a weakness when present in an argument, can remain in valid arguments from qualia.
Until a cure is found 1 in approximately every 3,500 boys will inherit Duchenne muscular dystrophy and eventually die from it. The current treatments only place a temporary obstacle in front of the disease. It is hoped that advancements in the fields of science and medicine will help to speed along the discovery of a cure for this debilitating muscular disease.
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, commonly referred to as DMD, is a life threatening disease. There are many different forms of muscular dystrophy, Duchenne being one more serious. DMD begins to show at a young age. This particular form of muscular dystrophy is mostly found in males. Duchenne is carried by the mother on the X chromosome but often, the event of having this disease is just a “fluke.” Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is a deadly and unfortunate disease but new research that is being done may be the cure many are looking for.
It is estimated that 1 out of every 5,600-7,700 boys ages 5-24 have Duchene or Becker muscular dystrophy. (“Data & Statistics,” 2012 April 6) Muscular dystrophy is a group of genetic diseases defined by muscle fibers that are unusually susceptible to damage. There are several different types of muscular dystrophy some of which shorten the affected person’s lifespan. (“Muscular dystrophy: Types and Causes of each form,” n.d.) There is a long history of the disorder but until recently there wasn’t much knowledge of the cause. (“Muscular Dystrophy: Hope through Research,” 16 April 2014) Symptoms are obvious and can be seen as soon as a child starts walking. (“Muscular Dystrophy,” 2012 January 19) Although muscular dystrophy mostly affects boys, girls can get it too. (“Muscular Dystrophy,” 2012 January 19) There is no cure for muscular dystrophy but there are several types of therapy and most types of muscular dystrophy are still fatal. (“Muscular Dystrophy: Hope through Research,” 16 April 2014)
Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes were not truly conscious of the phenomenalistic consequences of their theory of knowledge, which was based on empiricism. Both considered sensation as phenomenal presentations and also as representations of reality. Thus they still had something upon which to build an absolute metaphysics. With Locke gnosiological phenomenalism enters its critical phase. By considering sensations merely as subjective presentations, Locke gives us a theory of knowledge of subjective data devoid of any relation with external objects. Hence Locke is the first to give us a logic for Empiricism, that is, for sensations considered as phenomena of knowledge.
Almost all epistemologists, since Edmund Gettier’s 1963 article, have agreed that he disproved the justified-true-belief conception of knowledge. He proposed two examples
"A Parent's Guide to Autism Spectrum Disorder." NIMH RSS. N.p., 2011. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
Even if a driver reads the statistics of texting while driving, he or she will find a way to justify doing so. 77% of young adults are very or somewhat confident that they can safely text while driving and 55% of young drivers say that it’s easy to text while driving (“DWI” 1). These statistics are heartbreaking and unfortunate, because so many drivers don’t value the lives of passengers in their car or drivers on the road. While these teens may seem confident, it is still a dangerous problem. Since studies show that 10% of their driving time is spent outside of their lane (“DWI”
Locke's Essay is one of the classical documents of British empirical philosophy. His official concern is with epistemology, the theory of knowledge. Locke sees the u...
The quest for knowledge, a topic often contemplated in philosophy, remains persistent with mankind seeking to understand the uncertainty in the world surrounding him. Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that raises questions and provides answers about what constitutes knowledge and justifies belief. The main concerns of knowledge in epistemology are how it is defined, what the source is, how it’s acquired, what its limitations are, and what kind of knowledge is necessary. Three very well known philosophers of their time offer their different ideas on the subject of knowledge and epistemology.
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that studies knowledge. It is mainly concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge. It attempts to answer the basic question of what distinguishes true or adequate knowledge from otherwise false or inadequate knowledge (Heylighen). The major branches of epistemological theory are rationalism, empiricism and mysticism. Rationalism implies that knowledge is obtained through reason and introspection. Ones ideas are justified by sense experience, but if the senses and intuition are in conflict, the sensory evidence must be discarded. In empiricism, knowledge is obtained through observation and experiment. Models and theories may be used to organize this sensory experience, but if theories contradict experience they are wrong. In mysticism, knowledge is obtained through faith, emotions or revelation but if observation or intuition contradict, the knowledge is thus deemed wrong (“Rationalism”). Doubt, as a Persian Proverb once said, is the key to knowledge. It is one of the influencing factors in the expansion of knowledge. A fact that is conside...
Physicalism, or the idea that everything, including the mind, is physical is one of the major groups of theories about how the nature of the mind, alongside dualism and monism. This viewpoint strongly influences many ways in which we interact with our surrounding world, but it is not universally supported. Many objections have been raised to various aspects of the physicalist viewpoint with regards to the mind, due to apparent gaps in its explanatory power. One of these objections is Frank Jackson’s Knowledge Argument. This argument claims to show that even if one has all of the physical information about a situation, they can still lack knowledge about what it’s like to be in that situation. This is a problem for physicalism because physicalism claims that if a person knows everything physical about a situation they should know everything about a situation. There are, however, responses to the Knowledge Argument that patch up physicalism to where the Knowledge Argument no longer holds.