Quantifier variance

The term quantifier variance refers to claims there is no uniquely best ontological language with which to describe the world. According to Hirsch, it is an outgrowth of Urmson's dictum: “If two sentences are equivalent to each other, then while the use of one rather than the other may be useful for some philosophical purposes, it is not the case that one will be nearer to reality than the other...We can say a thing this way, and we can say it that way, sometimes...But it is no use asking which is the logically or metaphysically right way to say it.”— James Opie Urmson, Philosophical Analysis, p. 186

Quantifier variance

The term quantifier variance refers to claims there is no uniquely best ontological language with which to describe the world. According to Hirsch, it is an outgrowth of Urmson's dictum: “If two sentences are equivalent to each other, then while the use of one rather than the other may be useful for some philosophical purposes, it is not the case that one will be nearer to reality than the other...We can say a thing this way, and we can say it that way, sometimes...But it is no use asking which is the logically or metaphysically right way to say it.”— James Opie Urmson, Philosophical Analysis, p. 186