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Empiricism and Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / Though Quine's argument against the analytic-synthetic distinction is widely disputed, one of the major effects of his argument has been to popularise the belief that there is no sharp distinction between science and philosophy. This thesis begins by distinguishing reductive from holistic empiricism, showing why reductive empiricism is false, refuting the major objections to holistic empiricism and stating the limits on human knowledge it implies. Quine's arguments (and some arguments that have been mistakenly attributed to him) from holism against the analytic-synthetic are considered, and while many of them are found wanting one good argument is presented. Holism does not, however, imply that there is no sharp distinction between science and philosophy, and indeed implies that the distinction between scientific and philosophical disputes is perfectly sharp. The grounds upon which philosophical disputes may be resolved are then sought for and deliniated.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/283779
Date January 2009
CreatorsSinclair, Nathan
PublisherUniversity of Sydney.
Source SetsAustraliasian Digital Theses Program
Detected LanguageEnglish
RightsThe author retains copyright of this thesis., http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/copyright.html

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