Topics Philosophy

Question This question might not be appropriate, but I'll try anyway. How is it that the precise meaning of the Waverly passage in Russell's "On Denoting" remains notoriously unclear? Russell died in 1970; I'm incredulous that while he was alive no one simply asked him what he had meant. I am similarly amazed whenever there are exegetical questions about the work of any modern philosopher (e.g., Quine).

Accepted:
September 14, 2008

Comments

I used to share your puzzlement. I was a graduate student at Harvard and very interested in Quine's work. Early on, I thought to myself "This will be great: all I have to do is walk downstairs and just ask Quine what he meant by some puzzling or ambiguous passage." Well, I did that several times and, you know what, it didn't help me very much. One day, I reported this puzzling fact to Burton Dreben–who did not find it surprising at all. "What do you expect," he said, "if you ask Quine a question, what you will get back is more Quine!" Obviously true, yes, but nonetheless a very suggestive observation.