"Hold Come What May" – Willard Van Orman Quine, The Web of Beliefs, & Confirmation Holism

In this episode of pplpod, we dive deep into the mind of renowned logician and philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine to explore his popularized phrase, "hold come what may". What happens when we have beliefs we are completely unwilling to give up, regardless of the evidence presented to us?

We unpack Quine's fascinating epistemological argument that any belief can be held come what may, as long as we make suitable adjustments to our other beliefs. Join us as we explore how Quine famously rejected the distinction between analytic truths (truths held come what may) and synthetic truths (truths based on the state of the world), arguing instead that absolutely no statement is immune to revision.

We also break down complex philosophical concepts like confirmation holism and the Duhem–Quine thesis, explaining how all of our thoughts are interconnected in a massive "web of beliefs" through supporting relations. Finally, we discuss Quine's related concept of beliefs we "hold more stubbornly at least". Discover why central beliefs—like the laws of logic or the existence of the physical world—are harder to change due to their immense, ramifying consequences, and why it's often more practical to alter auxiliary "sense beliefs" around the edges of our web when faced with unfriendly new evidence.