Researches On Quine's Theory Of Logical Truth

Logical truths occupy the central place in the whole system of truths, which naturally arouses concerns and discussions of many philosophers and logicians, and thus a number of theories come into being. Philosophers and logicians before Quine have carried on different definitions and different researches to the problem of logical truths, and explained its essential features: analyticity, necessity and a priority. The distinction between analytic propositions and synthetical propositions, the distinction between a priori propositions and a posteriori propositions, and the distinction between necessary truths and accidental truths overlap and equate. Quine's theory of logical truths is one of the most important constituents of his thoughts on philosophy of logic. His classical paper "Two Dogmas of Empiricism" proposed a harsh critique to the former philosophers, particularly to logic empiricists'viewpoint about logical truth. He begins with denial of the strict boundary between analytical propositions and synthetical propositions, and then proposes his highly original viewpoints: logical truths do not have the analyticity and the a priority, only have relative necessity, therefore are revisable.This paper includes three parts. The first part mainly elaborates the definition and understanding about logical truths of logicians and philosophers before Quine, elaborates features of logical truths which derive in terms of the relation between logical truths and factual truths. They believe that logical truths are formal truths, with a highly abstraction and generality, with little specific content and wide applicability, so logical truths are more reliable than factual ones. The second part mainly discusses Quine's five definitions of logical truths: truths in terms of structure, truths in terms of substitution, truths in terms of models, truths in terms of deduction procedures, truths in terms of syntax. In addition, the second part elaborates Quine's definition about logical truths and expounds the features of logical truths, and essentially concerns the relation between logical truths and analyticity, necessity, apriority. Then it elaborates Quine's tool with which he criticized reductionism, and elaborates content and significance of Quine's Holism concept of knowledge, which has positive and negative influence on Quine's theory of logical truth. The third part mainly elaborates and analyzes the most controversial question about revisability of the Quine's theory of logic truths. Some scholars claim that "logic may be revisable"; Some scholars believe logics can't be revisable. The article summarizes the representative researches from domestic and foreign scholars, critiques and inherits, and then propose some original viewpoints.