Quine’s ontology
E1036183
Quine’s ontology is the philosophical framework developed by W.V.O. Quine that determines what kinds of entities exist according to our best scientific theories, famously summarized by the criterion “to be is to be the value of a bound variable.”
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Quine’s ontology canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T13372276 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Quine’s ontology Context triple: [Wyman, discussedInSecondaryLiteratureOn, Quine’s ontology]
-
A.
Ontology, Identity, and Modality
Ontology, Identity, and Modality is a collection of influential essays by philosopher Peter van Inwagen that explores fundamental issues in metaphysics, including existence, identity, and possibility.
-
B.
The Logical Structure of the World
The Logical Structure of the World is Rudolf Carnap’s seminal 1928 work in which he develops a rigorous, formal reconstruction of all scientific concepts from a phenomenalist basis, serving as a foundational text of logical positivism.
-
C.
Strawsonian tradition in metaphysics
The Strawsonian tradition in metaphysics is an approach rooted in P. F. Strawson’s work that emphasizes descriptive metaphysics, focusing on clarifying the fundamental conceptual framework underlying our ordinary thought and discourse rather than constructing revisionary ontological systems.
-
D.
Identity, Ostension, and Hypostasis
"Identity, Ostension, and Hypostasis" is a philosophical essay by W.V.O. Quine that examines how reference, naming, and abstract entities arise within our linguistic and conceptual frameworks.
-
E.
On Denoting
"On Denoting" is a seminal 1905 philosophical essay by Bertrand Russell that introduced his influential theory of descriptions and reshaped analytic philosophy of language.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Quine’s ontology Target entity description: Quine’s ontology is the philosophical framework developed by W.V.O. Quine that determines what kinds of entities exist according to our best scientific theories, famously summarized by the criterion “to be is to be the value of a bound variable.”
-
A.
Ontology, Identity, and Modality
Ontology, Identity, and Modality is a collection of influential essays by philosopher Peter van Inwagen that explores fundamental issues in metaphysics, including existence, identity, and possibility.
-
B.
The Logical Structure of the World
The Logical Structure of the World is Rudolf Carnap’s seminal 1928 work in which he develops a rigorous, formal reconstruction of all scientific concepts from a phenomenalist basis, serving as a foundational text of logical positivism.
-
C.
Strawsonian tradition in metaphysics
The Strawsonian tradition in metaphysics is an approach rooted in P. F. Strawson’s work that emphasizes descriptive metaphysics, focusing on clarifying the fundamental conceptual framework underlying our ordinary thought and discourse rather than constructing revisionary ontological systems.
-
D.
Identity, Ostension, and Hypostasis
"Identity, Ostension, and Hypostasis" is a philosophical essay by W.V.O. Quine that examines how reference, naming, and abstract entities arise within our linguistic and conceptual frameworks.
-
E.
On Denoting
"On Denoting" is a seminal 1905 philosophical essay by Bertrand Russell that introduced his influential theory of descriptions and reshaped analytic philosophy of language.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
ontological theory
ⓘ
philosophical framework ⓘ theory of existence ⓘ |
| aimsFor |
alignment of ontology with best science
ⓘ
ontological parsimony ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
formalized theories
ⓘ
ordinary discourse when regimented ⓘ scientific theories ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
indeterminacy of translation
ⓘ
naturalized epistemology ⓘ ontological relativity ⓘ
linked to:
Ontological Relativity and Other Essays
scientific realism ⓘ |
| basedOn | first-order predicate logic ⓘ |
| centralCriterion | to be is to be the value of a bound variable ⓘ |
| claimsThat |
accepting a theory commits one to the existence of its quantified entities
ⓘ
existence is expressed by existential quantification ⓘ ontological questions are questions about the values of bound variables ⓘ ontology is determined by what our best theories quantify over ⓘ |
| contrastsWith |
Meinongian ontology
ⓘ
Platonist ontology of abstract meanings ⓘ phenomenalist ontology ⓘ |
| developedBy |
W. V. O. Quine
ⓘ
linked to:
Willard Van Orman Quine
|
| focusesOn |
ontological commitment
ⓘ
relation between language and ontology ⓘ what there is ⓘ |
| influenced |
analytic metaphysics
ⓘ
contemporary ontology ⓘ philosophy of language ⓘ philosophy of science ⓘ |
| influencedBy |
Fregean logic
ⓘ
linked to:
Fregean semantics
Russellian logic ⓘ logical empiricism ⓘ logical positivism ⓘ |
| presupposes |
first-order extensional language
ⓘ
rejection of intensional logics for fundamental ontology ⓘ |
| rejects |
analytic–synthetic distinction as a basis for ontology
ⓘ
appeal to meanings as abstract entities ⓘ uncritical acceptance of intensional entities ⓘ |
| relatedConcept |
desert landscapes in ontology
ⓘ
ontological commitment ⓘ regimentation of language ⓘ |
| relatedWork |
From a Logical Point of View
ⓘ
On What There Is ⓘ
linked to:
“On What There Is”
Word and Object ⓘ |
| timePeriod | mid-20th century analytic philosophy ⓘ |
| usesTool |
bound variables
ⓘ
logical regimentation ⓘ quantification theory ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Quine’s ontology Description of subject: Quine’s ontology is the philosophical framework developed by W.V.O. Quine that determines what kinds of entities exist according to our best scientific theories, famously summarized by the criterion “to be is to be the value of a bound variable.”
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.