De Dicto and de Re - Representing de Dicto and de Re in Modal Logic - Willard Van Orman Quine

Willard Van Orman Quine

Willard Van Orman Quine refers to D. Kaplan, who in turn credits Montgomery Furth for the term vivid designator in his paper Reference Modality. He examines the separation between de re and de dicto statements and does away with de re statements, because de re statements can only work for names that are used referentially. In fact, both rigid designators and vivid designators are similarly dependent on context and empty otherwise. The same is true of the whole quantified modal logic of necessity; for it collapses if essence is withdrawn.

Read more about this topic:  De Dicto And de Re, Representing de Dicto and de Re in Modal Logic

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    My position is a naturalistic one; I see philosophy not as an a priori propaedeutic or groundwork for science, but as continuous with science. I see philosophy and science as in the same boat—a boat which, to revert to Neurath’s figure as I so often do, we can rebuild only at sea while staying afloat in it. There is no external vantage point, no first philosophy.
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