2.20.2008

A Poem


































A curious thing
about the ontological problem
is its simplicity.

It can be put
into three
Anglo-Saxon monosyllables:
'What is there?'

It can be answered,
moreover,
in a word--
'Everything'--
and everyone will accept
this answer
as true.
-WVO Quine, "On What There Is"

I didn't come up with the idea of "Quine as Poet," but I like the idea; and I like Quine better than Weiderkehr in any case.
I'm even more pleased to learn that Quine is a noun.

2 comments:

BrianY said...

So I'm still unclear as to why the quine is named after Quine?

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.