ABSTRACT
W. V. Quine (born 1908) is in many philosophers’ opinion one of the greatest philosophers of this century. Unlike Russell and Wittgenstein, his name is scarcely known outside the narrow circle of professional philosophers and their students. He has made important contributions to discussion of most of the main problems tackled by Wittgenstein, but usually in very different ways. Like Wittgenstein, he offers his own promising approach to the central questions of how it is possible for thoughts and theories to latch on to reality, and how far, if at all, reality and truth depend on us. Also like Wittgenstein, his suggestions lend themselves to relativizing interpretations. In this chapter I shall be concerned to set out Quine’s main ideas in the areas that interest us. How far they really support relativism, and, if so, what kind of relativism, are questions for later chapters.
