维特根斯坦与奎因：兼容而不对立的两种哲学

Wittgenstein and Quine: Two Giants of Twentieth-Century Philosophy

维特根斯坦和奎因都鄙视形而上学的和认识论的思辨,并且都花大力气批评传统的哲学概念和理论。但是他们在此批评之后继续从事哲学的路径是不同的。维特根斯坦把哲学等同于对传统哲学思维的批判,并且仅此而已。奎因则通过把哲学问题重塑为科学问题来尽其所能地挽救以往的哲学,并且对他重塑之后的问题做出回答。与人们对维特根斯坦和奎因的通常看法相反,我认为他们从事的哲学研究是互补的、并不是不兼容的。他们只是在表面上看是对立的;而实际上赞同其一方并不意味着拒绝另一方。

Both Wittgenstein and Quine disdain metaphysical and epistemological speculation and devote considerable time and effort to criticising traditional philosophical notions and theories. But they do not go on in the same way. Wittgenstein identifies philosophy with the critique of philosophical thinking and undertakes the task of criticism to the exclusion of all else while Quine would rescue what he can of past philosophy by recasting philosophical questions as scientific questions and providing answers to the questions he fashions. Contrary to the common view of their thinking, however, they are engaged in complementary, not incompatible, philosophical investigations. They only appear to come down on different sides of the fence,and each can be endorsed without repudiating the other.