Examination and Axiomatization of Substantive Stripping and Marginalization in W.V.O. Quine’s Naturalized Epistemology and Continuity Thesis

Abstract

This paper did a Critical Examination and Axiomatization of W. V. O. Quine’s Naturalized
Epistemology and Continuity Thesis. Quine's naturalized epistemology upholds a notion of continuity
between philosophy and science which is contrived through compressing and narrowing down
epistemology by and large in terms of objective or subject-matter, scope and method and confining it into
psychology. What stands austere in this effort is that Quine did not identify the continuity by specifying
what is part and parcel of them that characterize them to be continuous, rather he trades off one of them
of its substance and annexes it into the other to stand them aligned and continuous. This study aims at
how Quine made traditional epistemology a second fiddle in the knowledge enterprise. Consequently,
this work being qualitative research, employs the methods of content analysis and critique. Thus, it is the
conviction and contention of this paper that this is a substantive stripping and marginalization of
epistemology which is non-modest and unwarranted. Hence, this study therefore urges and tender a more
modest continuity thesis and argue that what Quine identifies as their common subject matter and as
objective of study is a mistaken assumption or an over-generalization. We conclude that what is even more
austere is his recommendation of the abandonment of the goal of a first philosophy to settle with the
objectives of science.