"Physical things generally, however remote, become known to us only through the effects which they help induce at our sensory surfaces."
— Quine, W. V. O. (1908-2000)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
Cambridge
Publisher
The MIT Press
Date
1960
Metaphor
"Physical things generally, however remote, become known to us only through the effects which they help induce at our sensory surfaces."
Metaphor in Context
This familiar desk manifests its presence by resisting my pressures and by deflecting light to my eyes. Physical things generally, however remote, become known to us only through the effects which they help induce at our sensory surfaces. Yet our common-sense talk of physcial things goes forward without the benefit of explanations in more intimately sensory terms. Entification begins at arm's length; the points of condensation in the primordial conceptual scheme are things glimpsed, not glimpses. In this there is little cause for wonder. Each of us learns his language from other people, through the observable mouthing of words under conspicuously intersubjective circumstances. Linguistically, and hence conceptually, the things in sharpest focus are the things that are public enough to be talked of publicly, common and conspicuous enough to be talked of often, and near enough to sense to be quickly identified and learned by name; it is to these that words apply first and foremost.
(p. 1)
(p. 1)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Quine, W.V.O. Word and Object. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1960.
Theme
Writing to the Moment
Date of Entry
02/16/2004
Date of Review
06/26/2007
