Quine
W.V.O. Quine takes substitutivity salva veritate to be the same as the "indiscernibility of identicals". Given a true statement, one of its two terms may be substituted for the other in any true statement and the result will be true. He continues to show that depending on context, the statement may change in value, In fact, the whole quantified modal logic of necessity is dependent on context and empty otherwise; for it collapses if essence is withdrawn.
For example, the statements:
| (1) | Giorgione = Barbarelli, |
| (2) | Giorgione was so-called because of his size |
are true; however, replacement of the name 'Giorgione' by the name 'Barbarelli' turns (2) into the falsehood:
| Barbarelli was so-called because of his size. |
Quine's example here refers to Giorgio Barbarelli's sobriquet "Giorgione", an Italian name roughly glossed as "Big George."
Read more about this topic: Salva Veritate
Famous quotes containing the word quine:
“To be is to be the value of a variable.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)
“Some have said that the thesis [of indeterminacy] is a consequence of my behaviorism. Some have said that it is a reductio ad absurdum of my behaviorism. I disagree with this second point, but I agree with the first. I hold further that the behaviorism approach is mandatory. In psychology one may or may not be a behaviorist, but in linguistics one has no choice.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)
“‘Ouch’ is not independent of social training. One has only to prick a foreigner to appreciate that it is an English word.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)