The Ideas of Quine (1977)

Willard Van Orman Quine of Harvard stands as one of the modern world’s most eminent philosophers. In this rare interview conducted by world-renowned author and professor Bryan Magee, Quine discusses his earlier view of himself as a mathematical logician, and his later interest in philosophy in a more general sense-specifically, regarding metaphysics and the philosophy of language.

[@kennethboykins264]

Brian Magee Rest In Peace. I googled his name and read that he died yesterday. His program is the only one of its kind. Explaining deep philosophical concepts and problems to the layperson.

[@arnoutvandenbergh2729]

Extraordinary how meticously and precise Quine formulates his answers, and how Magee 'translates' them into simple language. They supplement each other in this interview perfectly.

[@arlieferguson3990]

Two dogmas of empiricism is maybe the best or certainty one of the best philosophical essays ever written. It’s just beautiful from any objective viewpoint-organization, flow, the structure of the argument, it’s cogency, and it’s rhetorical congeniality.

[@monkeymox2544]

Funny that this sort of TV show - in depth, not patronising to the audience, genuinely informative - has almost disappeared from our screens, and is now the preserve of independent content makers on TH-cam and podcasting platforms. There's clearly still a massive appetite for this sort of thing, but TV producers seem to think that modern audiences are morons with tiny attention spans. I recently watched a series on the BBC called 'Geniuses of the Modern World', about the ideas and impact of Marx, Freud and Nietzsch, which was quite interesting, but it was mainly vapid and relied on weird visual metaphors and pointless shots of the presenter travelling around on trains. I'd have much rather watched an expert on those topics - or a panel of experts- just sit and talk about them for an hour. I'm sure I would have learned a great deal more.

[@ERACISMneworleans1]

I've been an admirer of Quine for decades and it intuitively fits with my career as a behavioral therapist.

[@MarcasLancaster]

The fact that a conversation of this kind would be unthinkable on legacy media today speaks volumes of the debasement of mainstream culture.

[@christianjimenez1877]

WVO Quine was an extraordinary philosopher. I am reading his essay: "Identity, ostension and hypostasis" and it is simply amazing.

[@Wingedmagician]

Oh my god where has Quine been all my life

[@kylewit924]

Magee does a great job here!

[@talytasbarcelos]

Omg it's the actual guy

[@czarquetzal8344]

Magee asked the right question refuting physicalism when he asked about the justification of abstract objects. That's the main weakness of materialism.

[@GeorgiosMichalopoulos]

This is an amazing intro to Quine's philosophy - so many thanks for uploading!

[@pauloliver6813]

Farewell, Bryan Magee. The man who made philosophy accessible to many, many of us. I believe his contribution to human thought is immense- because he was the first to provide the link between the academics and the public. That was underestimated in importance in his lifetime.

[@drexciya8083]

This channel is a treasure trove. Thank you.

[@firstal3799]

Quite perhaps greatest philosopher of 20th century

[@jofel131]

They got straight to the point, in this program.

[@daimon00000]

Thanks, for the subtitles.

[@bernardoabreu4910]

Excellent interview

[@viperaputakeyteaparyou8237]

A true trailblazer, and my second favorite philosopher, right after Donald Davidson. Thank you for making this content available.

[@naayou99]

Quine is one of the greatest philosophers of all times and certainly was a central figure in the philosophy of language and mathematical logic. Some poor comments below suggests Quine had difficulty or "caught off" guard. He, Quine, pauses to explain his views in none technical terms so that the layman can understand. Remember this was a BBC broadcast.