Willard Van Omar Quine and the naturalization of epistemology: approximations with the Dewey legacy

Abstract

This study results from an investigation into the theoretical approximations between Willard Van Omar Quine’s (1908-‑2000) thinking and John Dewey’s (1859-‑1952) philosophical pragmatism. The focus of this approach is the naturalistic and realistic conception of knowledge developed by these two theorists. It seeks to understand the conceptual connection in the epistemology of both, above all, Quine’s references to a radical empiricism without dogmas. The criterion of comparative analysis will be the following theses: the rupture with aprioristic philosophy, realistic naturalism, criticism of the dogmas of empiricism, the defense of holism as an alternative to the traditional view of knowledge.