On Linguistic Creation

by Steven H. Cullinane on June 25, 1999

Preface of February 28, 2001:
This note was written in anger at the damned nonsense of Jacques Derrida and other postmodernists, and with contempt for the damned nonsense promulgated by many religious Christians and Jews. It turns out to have been written on the birthday of the recently deceased philosopher W. V. Quine, so it may serve as a sort of memorial to him.

Part I: The Matrix of Abraham

23

6

19

2

15

4

12

25

8

16

10

18

1

14

22

11

24

7

20

3

17

5

13

21

9

Part II: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacobs

  1. "This illustration shows a... perfect square."
    -- R. M. Abraham, Diversions and Pastimes (Dover, 1964)
  2. "F = ma."
    -- Isaac Newton (born on Christmas Day, 1642)
  3. "December 25, 1958 -- from Mary"
    -- Dedication on a copy of Naming-Day in Eden, by N. J. Jacobs (Macmillan, 1958)
  4. "God... asked Adam to name Him...
    Adam, quoting Scripture, complied: 25."
    -- Scripture [3] above, page 25
  5. "The Devil, unlike the angels, was at home in the world of phenomena. He knew how to combine pure concepts with empirical intuitions... which is the basic principle of linguistic creation."
    -- [3] (Jacobs, Naming-Day in Eden)
  6. "Such is the square dance of Numbers."
    -- Jacques Derrida, Dissemination, 1972
  7. "It all adds up."
    -- Saul Bellow, book title, 1994

Meditations added on
Ash Wednesday, February 28, 2001:

Primary meditation, on Quine's salvation by works --

The above was written on the 91st birthday of Willard van Orman Quine, logician and philosopher. His life's work included the education of many, many Harvard students in the fundamentals of logic.

Quine's grave defects as a philosopher -- a naive nominalism, coupled with blind devotion to the religion of Scientism -- are outweighed by his virtues as a teacher of elementary logic and as a prose stylist. As Saint Bonaventure notes, logic itself (derived from logos) symbolizes Christ within the trinity of Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric (known as the trivium within the seven liberal arts). Quine was also no slouch at grammar and rhetoric.

From his obituary, written by his son, on the Quine home page:

"Professor Quine was born June 25, 1908 (anti-Christmas) and died December 25, 2000 (Christmas)."

If there is such a thing as an anti-Christ, it had best beware those taught by Quine.

Secondary meditation, on Quine's salvation by grace --

"Bingo!" -- Roman Catholic religious exclamation

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