奎因的本体论承诺

Ontological Promise of Quine

"是乃是变元的值",这是奎因一个与本体论相关的著名论题。它的实质是认为,本体论问题是与量词密切相关的,亦即是与我们表达事物时语言的使用密切相关的。文章指出,该论题中的"being"应该译为"是",而不是译为"存在"。只有这样,才能更好地理解和认识这个论题以及语言哲学中与它相关的一些问题。

＂To be assumed as an entity is to be assumed as a value of variable＂, this is a famous proposition of Quine related to ontology. Its essence is that ontological issue is related to quantity,that is, to the expression of things and the use of quantity in our language. Therefore, ＂being＂should be translated into＂being＂, but not＂existence＂. Only in this way can the real relation between ontology and logic be expressed.