Two Dogmas of Empiricism

work by Quine

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July 14, 2026

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W.V.O. Quine's essay "Two Dogmas of Empiricism" (1951) critiques foundational principles of empiricism. Quine challenges the distinction between analytic statements (true by definition) and synthetic statements (true by fact), arguing it's a matter of degree, not kind. He also questions the idea that individual sentences can be definitively confirmed or disconfirmed by experience, proposing instead that scientific theories function as interconnected webs where any part can be revised.12

Quine's work, influenced by logical positivism and Bertrand Russell, contributed to the development of naturalized epistemology, which views epistemology as a descriptive science rather than a normative one. This approach suggests that understanding knowledge acquisition is best achieved through psychology and observation of scientific practice.13

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philosophy of language
Quine
In his seminal paper “Two Dogmas of Empiricism” (1951), Quine rejected, as what he considered the first dogma, the idea that there is a sharp division between logic and empirical science. He argued, in a vein reminiscent of the later Wittgenstein, that there is nothing in the logical structure…
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In his seminal paper “Two Dogmas of Empiricism” (1951), Quine rejected, as what he considered the first dogma, the idea that there is a sharp division between logic and empirical science. He argued, in a vein reminiscent of the later Wittgenstein, that there is nothing in the logical structure…
Read More

$optical illusion: refraction of light$
epistemology
Commonsense philosophy, logical positivism, and naturalized epistemology
In his 1950 essay “Two Dogmas of Empiricism,” Quine launched an attack upon the traditional distinction between analytic statements, which were said to be true by virtue of the meanings of the terms they contain, and synthetic statements, which were supposed to be true (or false) by virtue of…
Read More
In his 1950 essay “Two Dogmas of Empiricism,” Quine launched an attack upon the traditional distinction between analytic statements, which were said to be true by virtue of the meanings of the terms they contain, and synthetic statements, which were supposed to be true (or false) by virtue of…
Read More