ENGLISH

Quiddities: An Intermittently Philosophical Dictionary

By W. V. Quine

Book information

Publisher
Belknap - Harvard University Press
Year
1987
ISBN
9780674743519, 0674743512, 0674743520, 9780674743526, 0140125221, 9780140125221
LCC
B72
Google Books ID
L-oD1AeKAlMC
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
11 MB (11321246 bytes)
Edition
1st
Pages
262\262
Scanned
yes
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07

Description

The appellation “polymath” is often lightly bestowed, but it can be applied with confidence to the celebrated philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine. Quine’s areas of interest are panoramic, as this lively book amply demonstrates. Moving from A (alphabet) to Z (zero), Quiddities roams through more than eighty topics, each providing a full measure of piquant thought, wordplay, and wisdom, couched in easy and elegant prose – “Quine at his unbuttoned best,” in Donald Davidson’s words. Philosophy, language, and mathematics are the subjects most fully represented; tides of entries include belief, communication, free will, idiotisms, longitude and latitude, marks, prizes, Latin pronunciation, tolerance, trinity. Even the more technical entries are larded with homely lore, anecdote, and whimsical humor. Quiddities will be a treat for admirers of Quine and for others who like to think, who care about language, and who enjoy the free play of intellect on topics large and small.

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