On Two Underappreciated Motifs of Quine’s Naturalism; Or, Quine on Reality and Naturalistic Philosophy

Abstract

This essay deals with two often underappreciated Quinean naturalistic motifs. The first motif concerns the metaphysical status of reality under naturalism, by examining what can be viewed as Quine’s attempt to dissolve realism and idealism into each other; the second motif concerns the etaphilosophical dimension of naturalized epistemology. I aim to demonstrate that Quine’s way of approaching these two motifs turns out to be not only complementary, but also highly indicative of his overall naturalistic outlooks as well as professional preferences. As a result, this essay reassesses Quine’s influence on the development of naturalism and naturalistically conceived philosophy from the second half of the 20th century onwards.