Justification of Belief to the External World; Notes on Russell and Quine

Abstract

Justification is among the most significant problems in Epistemology. One aspect of this is our belief in material entities. There are different answers to this problem. Bertrand Russell in his Our Knowledge of the External World takes a foundationalism approach. His approach nevertheless, is not concluded in a complete justification of our belief. He, consequently, to escape from skepticism falls on taking uncertain principles. Quine, in his The Ways of Paradox and other Essays, states that Russell's problem is a common problem in the history of experimentalism. His solution, however, is to neglect the problem of justification from epistemology. This paper analyses both claim in hope of suggesting a philosophical solution.