Conventionalism: From Poincare to Quine
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Reprint, 9/13/2012
EAN 9781107407312, ISBN10: 1107407311
Paperback, 342 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
The daring idea that convention - human decision - lies at the root both of necessary truths and much of empirical science reverberates through twentieth-century philosophy, constituting a revolution comparable to Kant's Copernican revolution. This book provides a comprehensive study of Conventionalism. Drawing a distinction between two conventionalist theses, the under-determination of science by empirical fact, and the linguistic account of necessity, Yemima Ben-Menahem traces the evolution of both ideas to their origins in Poincaré's geometric conventionalism. She argues that the radical extrapolations of Poincaré's ideas by later thinkers, including Wittgenstein, Quine, and Carnap, eventually led to the decline of conventionalism. This book provides a fresh perspective on twentieth-century philosophy. Many of the major themes of contemporary philosophy emerge in this book as arising from engagement with the challenge of conventionalism.
1. Overview
the varieties of conventionalism
2. Origins
Poincaré and Duhem and convention
3. Relativity
from 'experience and geometry' to 'geometry and experience'
4. Implicit definition
5. 'Unlimited possibilities'
Carnap on convention
6. Metaphor and argument
Quine on convention
7. Wittgenstein
from conventionalism to Iconoclasm.