To be is to be the value of a bound variable.
Attribution disputed; shown as originally published.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Quine proposes that existence amounts to being the value assigned to a bound variable in a statement.
- In plain terms
- Something exists if our statements need it as a value.
- What can you take from it?
- Existence depends on what our claims require.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What must exist for your claims to hold?
- Is existence just a logical role?
Another view
This view reduces existence to a linguistic requirement.
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