描述论抑或规范论: 论蒯因的哲学研究兴趣

Descriptive Theory or Normative One:On Interest of Philosophical Study of Quine

蒯因将认识论自然化之后被人质疑为他只关心心理学,因此他的认识论是一种纯粹的描述论,等等。事实上,蒯因自然主义形而上学是对传统认识论的规范的重构,而非描述性的;更确切地讲,它是一种逻辑斯蒂主义的理性重构:首先,它用数理逻辑的语言框架构造了一个全新的世界,至于何物存在于这个世界由“存在就是成为约束变项的值”“没有同一性就没有实体”等逻辑原则决定,因此蒯因以自己建构的存在论解构了以往的存在论;其次,它构建的逻辑世界也就是认知世界,即科学活动的世界,这个世界的体系是一个纯粹的语句系统,其边缘是观察句,中心是恒久句,追求语义的精确性、一致性。这一切均属于蒯因对传统哲学的理性重构,它在本质上是规范的,而蒯因真正的哲学兴趣也就在于此。

After naturalizing the epistemology,Quine was questioned as he only cared about psychology,so his epistemology was a purely descriptive theory,etc.In fact,Quine naturalistic metaphysics is a reconceiving of traditional epistemology,and it is normative rather than descriptive.Rather,it is a rational reconceiving of logisticism.Firstly,it constructs a entirely new world in the linguistic framework of mathematical logic.What exists in this world is determined by logical principles such as“Existence is to be the value of bound variable”and“no entity without identity,”so Quine deconstructs the previous existence theory with his own conceived existence theory.Secondly,the logical world it builds is the cognitive world,the world of scientific activities.The world system is a pure statement system,and its edge is the observation sentence.The center is the eternal sentence,and its pursuit is semantic accuracy and consistency.All this belongs to Quine’s rational reconceiving of traditional philosophy,which is normative in nature,and thus is Quine’s real philosophical interest.