Ontological Relativity and Subdetermination; Naturalism and Pyrrhonism

Abstract

Quine's thesis of ontological relativity is certainly one of the better known aspects of his work. However, it is rarely remarked that his conception of under-determination changed throughout his work, and that this considerably alters some key consequences usually drawn from the afore mentioned thesis. Such conceptual changes and some of their consequences will be examined here, especially regarding realism. We will also attempt to align Quine's realist posture with what may be described as neo-Pyrrhonic realism.