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Abstract

Before W.V.O. Quine came up with the idea of naturalizing epistemology, there were 
efforts by many philosophers to establish the fourth condition of knowledge. This 
search for a fourth condition was as a result of Gettier's thought experiment, which 
pointed out the flaws in the traditional account of knowledge. However, Quine's idea of 
naturalizing epistemology came after Rene Descartes and Rudolf Carnap were unable 
to succeed in their foundation program, a program that aimed to build a strong 
foundation in the search for the` edifice of knowledge. So, when the Carnapian and the 
Cartesian foundational program failed, Quine called for epistemology to be 
naturalized. His point is since there is no notable success in the search for the fourth 
condition of knowledge and since the foundational program of Descartes and Carnap 
did not work out, and since there is some level of certainty and objectiveness in natural 
scientific methods, epistemology should be naturalized. He emphasized that the issues 
in the theory of knowledge can be solved if philosophers embrace the methods of the 
natural sciences. There are many questions surrounding Quine's idea, for instance: we 
have the question of how a normative discipline like epistemology will become part of 
natural science, and why philosophers should shift their problems to the natural 
sciences when there are also unresolved issues in natural science, and many other 
questions. This work, therefore, examines naturalized epistemology to see the 
possibility of naturalizing epistemology and what comes of epistemology if it is 
naturalized.

Keywords: Naturalized, Epistemology, Philosophy and Knowledge

Introduction

What is knowledge? How do I know that I know something? At what point can I 
conclude that I know something for certain? What are the conditions needed for one to 
know something? Is objective knowledge possible? Is universal truth attainable? These 
questions and hundreds of other questions have occupied my thoughts since childhood.
The questions of knowledge are not new in philosophy, it has always been there, and 
even the early Philosophers were deeply interested in figuring out the ultimate element 
of the globe but could not come to an agreement as to what the ultimate element of the 
world is. Thereafter, there was also the era of the questions of the ability of the human 
mind to know any universal truth. This was the era of skepticism. The skeptics had 
doubt regarding the possibility of attaining any universal truth and this posed a 

AN EXAMINATION OF W.V.O. QUINE'S NATURALIZED EPISTEMOLOGY

CHRISTOPHER, CHRISTIAN JOHN
DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY

UNIVERSITY OF UYO, UYO – NIGERIA



109

significant threat to the question of human knowledge. Thereafter knowledge was 
generally defined as justified true belief. For a long time, knowledge was defined as 
justified-true- belief until Gettier presented two thoughts experiments to show the 
problem in the traditional account of knowledge. Gettier discovered that justification, 
truth and belief are all necessary conditions for knowledge but they are not enough, for 
him, there is need for a fourth condition.

The discovery of flaws in the traditional account of knowledge birthed the search for 
the fourth condition of knowledge and there has been so many attempts by various 
philosophers to provide a suitable fourth condition of knowledge. For instance, we 
have the defeasibility theory, the causal theory, the reliability theory and so on. There 
was also the foundationalist program by Rene Descartes and Rudolf Carnap. 
Foundationalism is the belief that certain fundamental beliefs, known as basic 
propositions, can be known with certainty through immediate, direct experience and do 
not require justification through inference. It is the view that knowledge and epistemic 
justification have a structure. So, Willard Van Orman Quine therefore argued that there 
are some level of certainty and objectivity in natural science, so for him rather than 
continue the endless search for another condition of knowledge epistemology should 
rather be naturalized. So that a proposition can be proven using the method of the 
natural sciences and philosophers will be able to have sufficient prove about a 
proposition. But this means, epistemology will become part of natural science.

Biographical Sketch of W.V. O. Quine
Willard Van Orman Quine was born on June 25th, 1908 in Akron, Ohio. He attended the 
local high school where he pursued scientific courses, paying special attention to 
mathematics. In his autobiography, The Time of My Life (1985) he wrote that he had a 
passion for mathematics and philosophy but his problem was how to combine the two 
different fields. He later solved this problem as he advanced academically by focusing 
on the philosophy of mathematics.
Quine gained admission into Oberlin College in 1926 and started studying 
mathematics and he pays attention to mathematical philosophy. In 1929, Quine began 
working on his honors thesis. He applied to Harvard University to do his graduate work 
because their philosophy department was then the strongest in mathematical 
philosophy and logic in the country. Its faculty included Alfred North Whitehead one of 
the authors of Principia Mathematica. Quine won a scholarship and with the help of it, 
he was able to do his Masters's Degree, and later on, he did his Ph.D.

In 1931, Quine had what he described as his most dazzling exposure to greatness 
when Russell came to lecture at Harvard (2). Russell was one of the most influential 
figures in Quine's life, mainly through works like Principia Mathematica, Introduction 
to Mathematical Philosophy, and so on. Quine attended meetings of the Vienna Circle 
and he met some of the members of the Vienna Circle, members like Herbert Feigl, 
Neurath, Schlick, Godel, Hahn, and Menger. Quine describes his stay away from 
Harvard as “the intellectually most rewarding months he has known” (6). Quine 
returned to Harvard in 1933 and was made a Junior Fellow of Harvard's Society of 
Fellows and this freed him from teaching responsibilities for three years. B.F Skinner 

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was also a member of The Junior Fellow during that time. That's why many scholars 
believe Quine was influenced by Skinner's Behaviorism. During the Second World 
War, Quine served in the United States Navy for more than three years and rose to the 
rank of lieutenant commander (Orenstein, 7). After the Second World War Quine 
returned to Harvard and was made a full Professor in the department of philosophy, he 
thought there until 1978 when he retired from teaching work.
Quine wrote many works, some of his notable works are; Mathematical Logic, From a 
Logical Point of View, Ontological Relativity, and Other Essays just to mention a few. 
Quine is popularly known for his rejection of the analytic-synthetic distinction and his 
advocacy for naturalism, physicalism, empiricism, holism, and extensions. Quine's 
thoughts and writings touch on severalareas including logic, the philosophy of 
language, the philosophy of science, the philosophy of mind, epistemology, and so on. 
In 1969, he published his “Epistemology Naturalized” in which he advocated that 
epistemology should be studied along naturalistic lines. Quine died on 25th December 
2000.

The Philosophical Background of Quine's Naturalized Epistemology

Philosophers rarely philosophize in a vacuum. It is either they are trying to solve a 
problem or they are trying to ask or answer a question. This implies that every 
philosophy has a philosophical background. If this is the case, then Quine's naturalized 
epistemology is not left out. By advocating for a naturalized version of epistemology 
Quine was trying to respond to the question of objectivity in knowledge and at the same 
time, he was interested in solving the problems in epistemology. These questions and 
problems which Quine was responding to form the philosophical backgrounds of 
naturalized epistemology. We shall now proceed to discuss the major ones. Which are 
as follows:

Traditional Epistemology

One of the major problems in philosophy is the problem of stating the proper 
characteristics of the nature of knowledge. This problem arises as a result of an attempt 
to prove to the skeptics that objective knowledge is possible. Plato in his dialogue titled 
Theatetus defines knowledge as justified true belief. This definition is generally 
regarded as the traditional account of knowledge. Thus, when we talk of traditional 
epistemology we are simply referring to the traditional account of knowledge. This 
“traditional account of knowledge was an account aimed at presenting a defense for the 
possibility of objective knowledge through the identification of the elements that 
constitute knowledge” (Ojong and Ibrahim, 126). The three major conditions in this 
account are; truth, belief, and justification. This implies that for us to know a given 
proposition that proposition must be true and we must believe in it then we must be 
justified in believing in it. Thus; for Mr. A to know a proposition (p), p must be true, Mr. 
A must believe in P and Mr. A must be justified in believing in P. let's use a thought 
experiment as an instance, assuming I am wondering if my friend is in his house then I 
meet John, John for no reason tells me that right now my friend is in his house and when 
I get to my friend's house he is truly in his house. Now, looking at the above illustration, 

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it is true that my friend is in the house, and John also believes that my friend is in the 
house butcan John be said to know in this case? According to the traditional account of 
knowledge, John does not know. But when can John be said to have knowledge that my 
friend is in his house in this case? This is where justification comes in as the third 
condition of knowledge. For John to know he must have justifiable reasons to back up 
his true belief.
However, in 1963 Edmund Gettier observed that there is a problem with the traditional 

account of knowledge so he presented a thought experiment to prove the inadequacy of 
the traditional conception of epistemology. Gettier's aim “is to demonstrate the 
insufficiency of the conditions of knowledge provided by the traditional account” 
(Ibrahim, 132). We shall now proceed to examine Gettier's thought experiment against 
the traditional account of knowledge.

The Gettier Problem

For over 100 years, knowledge was seen as justified true belief until Edmund 
Gettier in 1963 published his famous essay titled “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?” 
in which he presented two thought experiments to show there was a problem with the 
traditional account of knowledge. Commenting on this, Okeke writes that before 
Gettier's Essay “it was always taken for granted that knowledge is justified true 
belief….” (44). Dancy on his part also have something to say about Gettier's essay, for 
him, “it is important to note here that, Gettier is not quarreling with any of the three 
clauses, he allows that they are individually necessary and argued that they need 
supplementing” (25). Gettier's thought examples are as follows;

Suppose that Smith and Jones have applied for a certain job. 
And suppose that Smith has strong evidence for the following 
conjunctive proposition:
(d) Jones is the man who will get the job, and Jones has ten 
coins in his pocket. Smith's evidence for (d) might be that the 
President of the company assured him that Jones would in the 
end be selected, and that he, Smith, had counted the coins in 
Jones pocket ten minutes ago. Proposition (d) entails: (e) the 
man who will get the job has ten coins in his pocket. Let us 
suppose that smith sees the entailment from (d) to (e), and 
accepts (e) on the grounds of (d), for which he has strong 
evidence. In this case, Smith is clearly justified in believing 
that (e) is true. (121). Gettier brings his thought experiment to 
the crucial point (that crumbles the traditional account) when 
he implores us to suppose further that:Unknown to Smith, he 
himself, not Jones, will get the job. And, also, unknown to 
smith, he himself has ten coins in his pocket. Proposition (e) 
is then true; though proposition (d), from which Smith 
inferred (e), is false. (121-122).

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Gettier goes ahead to conclude that;
In our examples, then, all of the following are true: (i), (e) 
is true, (ii) Smith believes that (e) is true, and (iii) Smith is 
justified in believing that (e) is true. But it is equally clear 
that Smith does not know that (e) is true; for (e) is true in 
virtue of the number of coins in Smith's pocket, while 
Smith does not know how many coins are in Smith's 
pocket, and bases his belief in (e) on a count of the coins in 
Jones's pocket, whom he falsely believes to be the man 
who will get the job (122-123).

In Gettier's example above, Smith has a justified true belief yet he does not have 
knowledge because his knowledge of (e) seems to be a mere coincidence (Ibrahim, 23). 
Ozumba as quoted by Ibrahim highlights five lessons derivable from Gettier's thought 
experiments as follows:

i. We can be mistaken about what we think we know

ii. The most reliable source of information can deceive us

iii. We may end up true in what we believe but not 
truly and procedurally in order, in our claim to have 
that knowledge.
iv. Our knowledge or grounds for knowledge may 
be based on      mere coincidence.
v. Our claim to knowledge must be clear, certain 
and based on the proper reconditions (24).

Foundationalism is the belief that all knowledge or justified beliefs must be based on a 
solid foundation. This idea can be traced back to Parmenides, who believed that reality 
was unchanging and permanent. Foundationalism holds that there is a basic proposition 
whose truth can be directlyexperienced and is certain. This means that knowledge has a 
structure, with some beliefs being basic and others being inferred from these basic 
beliefs to be justified.
There are two main types of foundationalism: Cartesian and Carnapian. Cartesian 
foundationalism was proposed by Rene Descartes, who sought to find a secure 
foundation for knowledge by doubting all beliefs until he reached something 
indubitable. This led him to the belief that the thinking being, or "cogito," was the 
foundational belief. According to Descartes, knowledge has a foundational structure 
and these foundations include beliefs about the content and operations of the mind. 
These foundational beliefs must be used to justify other beliefs, such as the existence of 
a world outside the mind and the reliability of scientific methods.
Carnapian foundationalism, proposed by Carnap, is similar to Cartesian 
foundationalism in that it seeks to determine which beliefs are justified by reducing 
them to sensory terms. It also includes a doctrinal aspect, similar to the Cartesian 
program, which attempts to use the prescriptive part to justify beliefs about natural 
truths that have been reduced to sensory terms. Carnap's goal was to construct a system 

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that would include all knowable objects, which he called "methodological solipsism." 
This system would include "constitutional definitions" as rules, allowing concepts to 
be reduced to sets of basic concepts as long as they can be transformed into sentences 
containing sense data. However, like the Cartesian program, the Carnapian program 
was ultimately unsuccessful in achieving its primary objectives.

Quine's Naturalized Epistemology
In 1969 Willard Van Orman Quine published an essay on naturalized epistemology in 
which he submits that there should be a new dimension in the study of epistemology. 
Quine begins by discussing the attempt to reduce mathematics to symbolic logic, an 
unsuccessful effort. He compares epistemology with the logical and set theory studies 
of the foundations of mathematics and bases his naturalized epistemology on its failure. 
According to him, “reduction in the foundation of mathematics remains 
mathematically and philosophically fascinating, but it does not do what the 
epistemologist would like of it; it does not reveal the ground of mathematical 
knowledge, it does not show how mathematical certainty is possible” (70). 
Epistemology does not come before science, it starts with how we understand the 
universe in our common sense. He opposes Descarte's view of all-knowing coming 
from certain foundation beliefs, he also disagrees with the idea that we can still know a 
proposition without experience to back up our truth. Hebreaks the Cartesian and the 
Carnapian program into two parts; that is, the conceptual part and the doctrinal part. In 
his words; “studies in the foundation divide symmetrically into two sorts, conceptual 
and doctrinal. The conceptual studies are concerned with meaning, the doctrinal with 
the truth” (70).

The conceptual part has to do with clarifying concepts, illuminating concepts, and 
showing the interrelation between concepts. In other words, the conceptual study of the 
foundation of mathematics seeks to find a set of rules which can be used to determine 
whether a given belief in question is justified or not, by reducing the belief to 
fundamental beliefs. Put differently, conceptual foundationalism is the view that all 
empirical knowledge can be derived from basic observable beliefs. The meaning of 
every empirical concept can be reduced to sense experience. The idea is that the 
meaning of every sentence is just a set of observable consequences. For instance, if I 
say, this diamond is hard, this means that if this diamond is scratched with tin or iron 
then we will observe no mark. In this case, Quine will say that not everything can be 
reduced to sense experience. The second part of Cartesian foundationalism which 
Quine pointed out is doctrinal. This is the view that a given belief is justified because it 
meets the condition. That is; it can be deduced from some foundational justified beliefs. 
Simply put, the doctrinal part of the bifurcation is the part that should be used to prove 
the conceptual part. Explaining the above, Quine notes that, “explaining the notion of 
body in sensory terms; here is the conceptual side. And ... justifying our knowledge of 
truths of nature in sensory terms, here is the doctrinal side of the bifurcation” (71).

The traditional project of epistemology has failed in both ways (conceptual and 
doctrinal), the doctrinal side fails because induction is not reliable, this was proven by 
Hume in his discussion on induction that there are no fundamental unquestionable 

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truths. The conceptual side fails because only a conjunction of sentences can correlate 
with experience. The scientific terms cannot be translated into sense data, since there 
aren't exact translation rules. Since the program earlier proposed just didn't work, 
Quine suggests we should turn attention to a new method, he argued that because these 
types of traditional epistemology have failed in their goals concerning justification, 
epistemology itself should be replaced with a naturalized version. He wrote;

But I think that at this point it may be more useful to say rather 
that epistemology still goes on, though in a new setting and a 
clarified status.Epistemology, or something like it, simply 
falls into place as a chapter of psychology and hence of 
natural science. It studies a natural phenomenon, viz., a 
physical human subject. This human subject is accorded a 
certain experimentally controlled input—certain patterns of 
irradiation in assorted frequencies, for instance—and in the 
fullness of time, the subject delivers as output a description of 
the three-dimensional external world and its history. The 
relation between the meager input and the torrential output is 
a relation that we are prompted to study for somewhat the 
same reasons that always prompted epistemology; namely, to 
see how evidence relates to theory, and in what ways one's 
theory of nature transcends any available evidence (82-83).

Our body/brain is an instrument of knowledge; the body projects itself through the 
senses to get knowledge while the mind acts on the knowledge gotten. In naturalized 
epistemology “we are studying how the human subject of our study posits bodies and 
projects his physics from his data” (Quine, 83). Thus, the epistemology enterprise is a 
psychology chapter and it is part of the whole of natural science. It describes the 
relation between evidence (meager sensory out) and theory (torrential theoretical 
output). Among the three main issues in epistemology, the nature of knowledge, how 
we acquire it, and its extent, naturalized epistemology is mainly focused on how we 
acquire knowledge. Instead of looking at a person's belief and asking “are those beliefs 
justify”, we look at the person and ask; “what caused those beliefs” (Psychological 
question). Therefore, naturalizing epistemology means doing epistemology in the 
spirit of scientific methodology whereby we set our epistemology inquiry within the 
setting of making our construction or projection of making our construction or 
projection of the external world based on the interaction between inputs from 
stimulations on our sensory surfaces and inputs arising from our conceptual 
sovereignty (Ozumba, 119). Naturalized epistemology is a way of understanding how 
humans come to know about the natural world through their senses and experiences. 
According to Quine, it is not possible to separate philosophy from science and make 
judgments about the nature of reality from a detached perspective. Instead, he suggests 
that there is a close relationship between science and philosophy and that the 
philosopher's perspective is ultimately an extension of the scientific worldview. Quine 
believes that there is a fundamental continuity and unity betweenscience and 
philosophy and that it is important to consider both to fully understand our place in the 

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world.

Quine's approach to naturalized epistemology seeks to solve the traditional puzzles of 
epistemology by focusing on how humans come to know about the world through their 
senses and experiences. In contrast to the "old" epistemology, which attempted to justify 
knowledge and sought to construct an understanding of the natural world from sense 
data, naturalized epistemology recognizes that our understanding of the world is shaped 
by the scientific theories and observations that we make. According to Quine, the old 
epistemology attempted to contain natural science, but the new epistemology is a part of 
natural science itself. In this new approach, the emphasis is on simply observing and 
gathering data rather than trying to justify our knowledge.

Evaluation
The study of epistemology has been dominated for nearly its entire lifetime from the point 
of view of the classical account of knowledge without recording any successful or notable 
progress. The best epistemologists could achieve was the program of Rene Descartes and 
Carnap which was not still able to achieve it primary objectives and this is one of the 
reason we must give credit to Quine for coming up with a new method in epistemology of 
course, there is no much motivation to continue searching for the solution of a particular 
problem for over hundreds of years using the same method, the same method that has 
failed us. It is therefore a noble course to embark upon a new direction for epistemology as 
suggested by Quine. Moreover, if epistemology is naturalized it will serve as a solution to 
the unending search for an indubitable condition of knowledge. But it is pertinent to note 
that Quine is not introducing another condition that will serve as the fourth condition of 
knowledge, rather he is saying that instead of us to continue studying epistemology with 
methods that fails, it is better we try something new. Since there are some level of 
objectiveness in science, it is better we use the methods of the science in our study of 
epistemology. By this, epistemology becomes part of science.

While Quine's approach to naturalized epistemology has been influential and has 
contributed to our understanding of how humans come to know about the world, it is not 
without its criticisms. Some philosophers have argued that Quine's approach fails to 
adequately address certain key issues in epistemology, such as the nature of justification 
and the relationship between knowledge andbelief. Others have pointed out that Quine's 
emphasis on observation and data gathering may not be sufficient to fully understand the 
complex and often subjective nature of human understanding. Ultimately, the strengths 
and limitations of Quine's naturalized epistemology will depend on the specific goals and 
priorities of the individual philosopher. Many philosophers have criticized Quine, the 
most popular of all his critiques is Jaegwon Kim. In his work titled What is Naturalized 
Epistemology? Kim presented one of the arguments which seem to hold ground the most 
against naturalized epistemology. Kim argues that the field of epistemology must be 
essentially normative; it must prescribe conditions for justification (or knowledge) and 
thereby determine which beliefs are justified (or can be considered knowledge). On this 
position Kim writes that: If justification drops out of epistemology, knowledge itself 
drops out of epistemology, for our concept of knowledge is inseparably tied to that of 

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justification. Quine's nonnormative, naturalized epistemology has no room for our 
concept of knowledge (389). What Kim is trying to point out is that to some extent, all of 
the epistemology programs to date have often concern with justification of some sort. In 
fact, the word epistemology itself is defined as the study of the nature of knowledge, in 
practice, epistemology is the study of a validation or justification of a body of knowledge 
claims.

Thus, Kim submits that naturalized epistemology has no bearing on the study of 
epistemology at all, it is only concern with causal relationships, not validation of 
knowledge claims (397). Kim's views here seem to be very correct because there seem 
to be no much rational reason for replacing epistemology with a naturalized version 
which not only has radically different methods of procedure but radical different goals 
as well. Unless naturalized epistemology and classical epistemology share some of 
their concerns, it will be difficult to see how an epistemology that has been purged of 
normativity, one that lacks an appropriate normative concept of justification or 
evidence can have anything to do with the concerns of traditional epistemology. And 
unless naturalized epistemology and classical epistemology share some of their central 
concerns, it's difficult to see how one could replace the other, or be a way (a better way) 
of doing the other (391). Naturalized epistemology means that epistemology becomes 
part of psychology; psychology is not introspective but behaviouristic or 
developmental.

The goal of the agent is dictated by self-interest, the agent being a species reduces 
epistemology to biology, he also belongs to a class that strives for survival and 
epistemology is further reducedto sociology and this reduction continues ad infinitum. 
This makes epistemology a field of study without a specific subject matter and scope. 
Aside that, there are still some unresolved problems in psychology, if psychologist 
were that good in solving problems why are there still some unresolved issues in their 
field? Quine's approach to naturalized epistemology has been influential in 
understanding how humans come to know about the world, but it is not without its 
criticisms. Some argue that Quine's approach doesn't truly replace epistemology with 
psychology, but rather eliminates it altogether. Others claim that the traditional 
questions of epistemology, such as the nature of justification and the relationship 
between knowledge and belief, cannot be eliminated and are inherent in any attempt to 
construct an epistemology. Some also argue that epistemology cannot be fully 
naturalized, as it deals with questions that are distinct from the practices of scientists 
and has its own unique set of questions to explore. Additionally, the question of how to 
incorporate normativity into a naturalistic framework is still a topic of debate. Finally, 
some criticize Quine's naturalized epistemology for sidestepping certain fundamental 
questions that are problematic in this field. Finally, some argue that Quine's naturalized 
epistemology does not actually solve any problems in epistemology, but rather tries to 
sidestep certain fundamental questions that are problematic in this field.

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Conclusion
The essence of naturalizing epistemology as seen in the work of Quine lies in the fact 

man has cognitive limitations since he is subjected to space and time. Therefore, man 
does not live in a static or changeless world. That is why naturalized epistemology is also 
concerned with contextualism. Contextualism is a theory that holds that the meaning of 
something depends on the place and time. Man is constantly influenced by new 
developments in the world. If this is the case, naturalized epistemology advocates that we 
should study the mental processes of man concerning the objects of his experience and 
put aside the question of an indubitable foundation that cannot be realized. If this 
happens, epistemology becomes part of psychology and ultimately an inherent part of 
natural science.

Quine's contribution to epistemology cannot be taken for granted, he must be applauded 
for advocating for something new in epistemology. However, it is pertinent to point out 
that this paper has noticed the change that Quine tries to bring into epistemology but it 
does not completely support such change. Quine in trying to naturalize epistemology 
ignores some fundamental partsof the study of epistemology. For instance, the question 
of justification does not have a chance of being answered in Quine's “new epistemology”. 
Quine did all he can to make sure that his naturalized epistemology eliminates the 
normative part of epistemology but the truth remains that the concept of knowledge has a 
connection with that of justification, at some point the two concepts seem inseparable. 
On this note, this paper recommends that, for naturalized epistemology to be upheld, it 
should be reconstructed in a way that gives room for justification, and normativity should 
be included in his “new epistemology”. Naturalized epistemology should also shape its 
aims and objectives to fit in line with the basic concern of the old epistemology, for until 
this is done, it will be difficult to naturalize epistemology.

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CHRISTOPHER An Examination of W.V.O. Quine's Naturalized Epistemology         

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