Willard V. Quine on Objectivity
Word and Object, 1964
The philosopher's task differs from the others', then, in detail; but
in no such drastic way as those suppose who imagine for the philosopher
a vantage point outside the conceptual scheme that he takes in charge.
There is no such cosmic exile. He cannot study and revise the
fundamental conceptual scheme of science and common sense without
having some conceptual scheme, whether the same or another no less in
need of philosophical scrutiny, in which to work. He can scrutinize and
improve the system from within, appealing to coherence and simplicity;
but this is the theoretician's method generally. He has recourse to
semantic assent, but so has the scientist. And if the theoretical
scientist in his remote way is bound to save the eventual connections
with non-verbal stimulation, the philosopher in his remoter way is
bound to save them too. True, no experiment may be expected to settle
an ontological issue; but this is only because such issues are
connected with surface irritations in such multifarious ways, through
such a maze of intervening theory.
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