| Truth has long been discussed by people but few can give a clear connotation of the idea. No matter itis in the domain of philosophy or logistics, scholars studying and discussing logic have been emerging inendlessly. Among all these Quine can be regarded as an outstanding figure. As the representative personageof philosophy of logic in the20th century, Quine was a scholar with amazing attainments in both logisticsand philosophy. In his ideological system of philosophy and logistics, the pursuit of truth held an importantposition and logical truth was placed in the core position in his theory about truth. By taking the logicaltruth theory of Quine as the research object, the paper aims to study the definition of logical truth of Quine,determine the method of logical truth and summarize the characteristics of logical truth of Quine.The paper, divided into four parts, discusses in detail the logical truth theory of Quine. The first part isthe introduction. It mainly focuses on the relationship of truth and logical relations and comprehends thefact that truth is the fundamental feature of the truth theory of Quine from the perspective of logic. Thesecond part analyzes the Quine’s theory about original clauses. Quine holds that the carriers of truth aresentences instead of propositions. Because propositions are the meaning of sentences and concept itself is akind of abstract existence, which is unfit for us to look into. But sentences are substantial existence havingrelative integrity and certain meaning can be expressed through them. The fact that sentences can be eithergenuine or false exactly accords with the function of the carrier of truth to assume the role of bearinggenuine and false. On that basis, Quine thinks that truth in the original clauses is the equivalent to what arenot quotations in the target language. Even if they become sentences in the meta language, by the masteryof sentence truth, we can realize the semantic ascent. Truth then becomes the bridge that connectssentences to the world. The third part mainly explains the main ideas of logical truth of Quine, thedefinition of logical truth and methods to determine logical truth. Quine thinks that there are inseverableconnections between logical truth and factual truth. The two supplement each other and we cannotmechanically distinguish between them strictly. Only a relative distinction between them is proper. Thenthe paper discusses the five methods to determine logical truth, which are respectively truth according tostructure, truth according to substitution, truth according to model, truth according to justification procedures and truth according to syntax. The fourth part of the paper further rethinks about andsummarizes the main characteristics of the logical truth theory of Quine. The faith of traditionalepistemology would generally separate analysis from integration. The primary doctrine empiricism pursuesis also to separate analysis from integration clearly. Quine put forward critical opinions about the idea. Bytaking the concept of refuting “analyticity” as an entry point, Quine criticizes analysis and integration. Heargues that analytical connotation in the first dogma does not possess the quality of clearness, thus unableto separate synthetic proposition from analytic proposition. The second dogma of empiricism is“reductionism”, which maintains that every meaningful statement can be translated into a statement aboutdirect experience. Quine thinks this too, cannot be realized. Then the paper describes the traditionalpragmatism of Quine. The viewpoint of Quine about pragmatism is more radical. He thinks that thecorrectness of a statement cannot be tested by experience. Whether a statement is genuine or false reliesmore on the practicability. We should make sure it conforms to the principle of pragmatism when testingthe statement. Then the paper explains the viewpoint of holism of Quine, the main argument of which isthat we should not separate intellectual conviction from sensory experience. Because the knowledge andconviction people generally master are obtained from specific life practice. Different fields of sciences alsohave knowledge intertwined. Through the analysis and research above, the paper believes that although inthe aspect of logic the logical truth theory of Quine has certain procedures and methods, on the philosophylevel, Quine thinks logical truth does not necessarily mean necessary truth or analytical truth and logicaltruth cannot be reduced. Quine thinks that the knowledge of human is faced to be tested by experience as awhole with logical truth at the core position of this knowledge system. According to the principle ofminimum modification, maximum acquirement, we should try to avoid modifying logical truth as far aspossible. |
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