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ONT Re: Quine -- Two Dogmas Of Empiricism




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TDOE.  Note 9

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| 2.  Definition (cont.)
|
| There does, however, remain still an extreme sort of definition
| which does not hark back to prior synonymies at all:  namely,
| the explicitly conventional introduction of novel notations
| for purposes of sheer abbreviation.  Here the definiendum
| becomes synonymous with the definiens simply because it
| has been created expressly for the purpose of being
| synonymous with the definiens.  Here we have a
| really transparent case of synonymy created
| by definition;  would that all species of
| synonymy were as intelligible.  For the
| rest, definition rests on synonymy
| rather than explaining it.
|
| Quine, "Two Dogmas", pp. 25-26.
|
| W.V. Quine,
|"Two Dogmas of Empiricism", 'Philosophical Review', January 1951.
| Reprinted as pages 20-46 in 'From a Logical Point of View',
| 2nd edition, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1980.

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