“How are we to adjudicate among rival ontologies? Certainly the answer is not provided by the semantical formula "To be is to be the value of a variable"; this formula serves rather, conversely, in testing the conformity of a given remark or doctrine to a prior ontological standard.”

—  Willard van Orman Quine

"On What There Is"
From a Logical Point of View: Nine Logico-Philosophical Essays (1953)

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Willard van Orman Quine25
American philosopher and logician 1908–2000

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