From a Logical Point of View: Nine Logico-Philosophical Essays, Second Revised Edition (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Professor Quine's challenging and original views are here for the first time presented as a unity. The chief merit of the book is the heart-searching from which it arose and to which it will give rise. In vigour, conciseness, and clarity, it is characteristic of its author. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

This volume of essays has a unity and bears throughout the imprint of Quine's powerful and original mind. It is written with the felicity in the choice of words which makes everything that Quine writes a pleasure to read, and which ranks him among the best contemporary writers on abstract subjects. (Cambridge Review )

Professor Quine's challenging and original views are here for the first time presented as a unity. The chief merit of the book is the heart-searching from which it arose and to which it will give rise. In vigour, conciseness, and clarity, it is characteristic of its author. (Oxford Magazine )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press; 2 edition (May 15, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674323513
• ISBN-13: 978-0674323513
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #518,109 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Metaphysics is dead! - long live the conceptual scheme!, November 29, 2000

By	Jacob Lautrup Kristensen (Aarhus N Denmark) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

With this book, Quine bursts onto the scene of analytical philosophy with claims the boldness and insight of which dealt a deadly strike to the orthodoxy of logical positivism. Being published for the first time in 1953, From a Logical Point of View followed hot on the heels of Wittgenstein's Philosophische Untersuchungen and although it's approach is quite different from that of Wittgestein's work, it has received less attention than P.U. Quine's arguments are transparent and yet very substancial in their claims. Better than anyone before or after him Quine realised that the rejection of traditional metaphysics has much graver consequences than it was imagined by the logical positivists. Quine tries to reconcile empiricism with metaphysics-criticism through a pragmatic view of the theory of reality. The result; - the conceptual scheme, is a fasinating and extremely controversial idea, but it has changed the face of metaphysics and epistemology forever. Long since philosophical classics, the essays "On What There Is" and "Two Dogmas of Empiricism" are still the best and most readable expositions of the views, which saw Quine elavate theoretical philosophy to a level of thinking, of which it still benefits tremendously.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the cost for the first two essays alone., December 29, 2002

By	Jack Arnold (Columbus, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This collection is worth the price simply for "On What There Is" and "Two Dogmas of Empiricism" alone. "The Problem of Meaning in Linguistics" is a gem that (along with the last six essays) is too often overlooked, simply because it occurs after the above two (notorious) essays. If you do not own this book, then you cannot be someone who works in the contemporary, post-positivist philosophy of language.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Nice Period Piece, September 19, 2006

By	Reader From Aurora - See all my reviews

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`From a Logical Point of View' originally published in 1953 in a series of essays by W.V.O. Quine. My comments pertain to the 2003 re-release by Harvard University Press which includes the prefaces to both the 1953 and 1980 editions.

The two best known essays from this text, "On What There Is' and `Two Dogmas on Empiricism' have been reprinted in many anthologies over the years. Although Two Dogmas may strike contemporary readers as trivial, coming at the end of the verificationist era, it did have some historic significance and is worth a look for that reason alone. I also enjoyed some of the other essays, e.g. "Reference and Modality" and "Meaning and Existential Inference". Potential buyers may wish to access the on-line table of contents prior to purchasing.

I enjoyed the book - it is a relatively accessible look back at mid twentieth century analytic thought. That said, it is largely a period piece and probably only of interest to dedicated followers of modern analytic philosophy.