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A 2.5 page paper which examines and explains the author’s view in depth and considers the arguments and questions the article poses. No additional sources are used.
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File: TG15_TGepisnat.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
the Greek word for knowledge, "episteme." W.V. (Willard Van Orman) Quine takes a controversial approach in the essay, "Epistemology Naturalized," which was featured in his 1969 text, Ontological Relativity
and Other Essays. Quine disputes the traditional notion that the concept of epistemology existed prior to science. Instead, he presents a persuasive, albeit complicated, research study that determines
epistemology to be a branch or offshoot of the empirical or experimental sciences. He charts the historical development of scientific and mathematical theories and formulates his own hypothesis based
on what he has ascertained from this theoretical evolution. The crux of Quines argument is dependent upon the acceptance of three
admittedly controversial assumptions. First, he has to confirm that holism is capable of being examined empirically. Next, he acknowledges that the major stumbling block of epistemology is establishing
a relationship between the theories themselves and their observational characteristics. Third, he determines that the only way to combat this problem is to take a psychological approach that considers
how people formulate output or theories based upon their sensory input or how the mind conceptualizes data by way of sensory perception. Therefore, according to Quine, "Epistemology, or something
like it, simply falls into place as a chapter of psychology and hence of natural science" (82). Quine asserts only through empirical inquiry, or studying how humans comprehend the
information received from the senses, is the only way to achieve any type of theoretical understanding. Ever the pragmatic theorist, Quine subdivides his study of the origins of knowledge into
conceptual studies (meaning) and the doctrinal studies (truth). In the essay, he explains, "The conceptual studies are concerned with clarifying concepts by defining them, some in terms of others.
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