Willard Van Orman Quine

Side A: Willard Van Orman Quine was one of the greatest philosophers and logicians of the 20th century. Born in Akron on June 25, 1908, Quine studied philosophy and logic at Oberlin College (B.A. 1930). He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University in 1932 and spent his entire career on the Harvard faculty, from 1956 to 1978 as Edgar Pierce Professor of Philosophy. Quine’s early research in logic led to his New Foundations system of set theory and to the Quine-McCluskey algorithm, used in computer science. His textbook Methods of Logic established the standards for undergraduate logic instruction. (Continued on other side) Side B: (Continued from other side) Willard Quine’s work in logic broadened into philosophy. He articulated a deeply systematic scientific world view which rejects non-empirical knowledge and maintains that philosophy itself is continuous with natural science. His essay “Two Dogmas of Empriricism” (1951) and book Word and Object (1960) are classics of 20th century philosophy. Quine’s achievements brought him many honors, including honorary degrees from seventeen universities in seven countries, the Rolf Schock Prize in 1993 and Kyoto Prize in 1996. Quine died on December 25, 2000.