Quine, Conceptual Pragmatism, and the Analytic-Synthetic Distinction

W. V. Quines occasional references to his pragmatism have often been interpreted as suggesting a possible link to the American Pragmatism of Peirce, James, and Dewey. Quine, Conceptual Pragmatism, and the Analytic-Synthetic Distinction argues that the influence of pragmatism on Quines philosophy is more accurately traced to his teacher C.I. Lewis and his conceptual pragmatism from Mind and the World Order, and his later An Analysis of Knowledge and Valuation. Quines epistemological views share many affinities with Lewiss conceptual pragmatism, where knowledge is conceived as a conceptual framework pragmatically revised in light of what future experience reveals. Robert Sinclair further defends and elaborates on this claim by showing how Lewiss influence can be seen in several key episodes in Quines philosophical development. This correspondence highlights a forgotten element of the epistemological backdrop to Quines mid-century criticism of the analytic-synthetic distinction, and Sinclair further argues that it provides the central epistemological framework for the form and content of Quines later naturalized conception of epistemology.