Language consists of dispositions, socially instilled, to respond observably to socially observable stimuli. Such is the point of view from which a noted philosopher and logician examines the notion of meaning and the linguistic mechanisms of objective reference. In the course of the discussion, Professor Quine pinpoints the difficulties involved in translation, brings to light the anomalies and conflicts implicit in our language's referential apparatus, clarifies semantic problems connected with the imputation of existence, and marshals reasons for admitting or repudiating each of various categories of supposed objects. He argues that the notion of a language-transcendent "sentence-meaning" must on the whole be rejected; meaningful studies in the semantics of reference can only be directed toward substantially the same language in which they are conducted.

W.V.O.蒯因（1908－2000），20世紀下半葉最有影響的美國著名哲學傢，數理邏輯學傢，現代分析哲學的主要代錶人物之一。1932年畢業於哈佛大學哲學係，獲博士學位。1932－1933年赴歐洲（維也納、布拉格、華沙等地）做訪問研究。1936年開始作為講師在哈佛大學任教，1941年升為副教授。第二次世界大戰期間曾在美國海軍服役，戰後返迴哈佛任教，1948年升為教授。此後多次在其他大學講學，1978年退休。主要哲學著作有：《從邏輯的觀點看》（1953）、《語詞和對象》（1960）、《悖論方法及其他論文集》（1966）、《本體論的相對性及其他論文集》（1969）、《邏輯哲學》（1970）、《理論和事物》（1981）等。