W. V. O. Quine, Jan Łukasiewicz, analytic-synthetic distinction, reductionism, holism, four-valued logic, a priori sciences, empirical sciences

Přestože se Łukasiewiczovy a Quinovy filozofické názory v mnohém liší, v 50. letech se oba shodli v jednom důležitém bodě. Oba tvrdili, že není rozdíl mezi empirickými a axiomatickými vědami. Tato shoda je o to překvapivější, že tento filozofický pohled by v tehdejší filozofii do značné míry kontroverzní. Ve svém příspěvku bych se chtěla zaměřit na důvody jejich odmítnutí dělení věd na empirické a axiomatické, a zejména na otázku, zda tuto pozici formulovali nezávisle na sobě, nebo se vzájemně ovlivnili.

Although Łukasiewicz and Quine do not share many common views, they agreed on one important point in the 1950s: they both denied the distinction between empirical and a priori sciences. This agreement might be surprising as this denial was rather controversial at that time. The presentation focused on Quine’s and Łukasiewicz’s denials of the distinction between empirical and a priori sciences, and proposed three possible answers to the question of why both formulated the same conclusion at a similar time. Firstly, it discusses Quine’s possible influence on Łukasiewicz as Łukasiewicz agreed with Quine’s criticism of modality at that time. Secondly, it considers the possibility that Quine was affected by Łukasiewicz via his debates with Łukasiewicz’s student, Tarski. Lastly, it considers the possibility that both philosophers were inspired by an external source, namely the rise of quantum mechanics.