W. V. Quine

This well written book is a useful introduction to the thought of the important American philosopher WVO Quine. I think the intended audience is advanced undergraduates and graduate students first encountering Quine. This book can be read profitably by laymen interested in philosophy (like me) but some prior background in formal logic and modern analytic philosophy is helpful. Orenstein addresses the major themes of Quine's work in a series of well organized chapters. Each chapter contains some background information to provide larger context, discussion of Quine's positions, and criticisms of Quine. Orenstein is a good writer and appears to be very knowledgeable about the major issues. The quality of explanations is excellent, though sometimes quite technical. I think that Orenstein has adopted a partially chronologic approach, as some themes cut across chapters, which can reduce clarity of individual sections. In some sections, Orenstein would have done well to provide better explanations of some terminology such as intensional and extensional, or modal logic. Orenstein develops a number of themes of Quine's work very well. It appears that in common with a number of other analytic philosophers, Quine was very impressed with the success of the natural sciences and pursued a rigorous, somewhat naturalistic approach to important philosophical questions. Quine's persistent interest in ontology was not a metaphysical approach but a commitment to a rigorous description of how ontologic commitments are expressed in logic and language. Orenstein describes very well some of the ways in which Quine departed from important aspects of prior traditions, including his attack on the analytic-synthetic distinction and his disposal of the a priori. These are shown to result from his commitment to a holistic view of knowledge. Finally, Quine's view of epistemology as a branch of psychology is consistent with his broad view of philosophy as continuous with science, mathematics, and logic. This is a useful book with a good bibliography. Probably read most profitably in conjunction with Quine's work.