ŁUKASIEWICZ AND QUINE ON EMPIRICAL AND A PRIORI SCIENCES

Zuzana Rybaříková

Abstract:

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. This paper focuses on Quine’s and Łukasiewicz’s denials
of the distinction between empirical and a priori sciences, and proposes 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 takes into account the possibility that both philosophers were inspired by an
external source, namely the rise of quantum mechanics.