Neurath's boat (or Neurath's ship) is a

simile A simile () is a type of figure of speech that directly ''compares'' two things. Similes are often contrasted with metaphors, where similes necessarily compare two things using words such as "like", "as", while metaphors often create an implicit c ...

used in anti-foundational accounts of

knowledge Knowledge is an Declarative knowledge, awareness of facts, a Knowledge by acquaintance, familiarity with individuals and situations, or a Procedural knowledge, practical skill. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is oft ...

, especially in the

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is the branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. Amongst its central questions are the difference between science and non-science, the reliability of scientific theories, ...

. It was first formulated by

Otto Neurath Otto Karl Wilhelm Neurath (; ; 10 December 1882 – 22 December 1945) was an Austrian-born philosopher of science, sociologist, and political economist. He was also the inventor of the ISOTYPE method of pictorial statistics and an innovator in ...

. It is based in part on the

Ship of Theseus The Ship of Theseus, also known as Theseus's Paradox, is a paradox and a common thought experiment about whether an object is the same object after having all of its original components replaced over time, typically one after the other. In Gre ...

which, however, is standardly used to illustrate other philosophical questions, to do with problems of

identity Identity may refer to: * Identity document * Identity (philosophy) * Identity (social science) * Identity (mathematics) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film * ''Identity'' (2003 film), an ...

. It was popularised by

Willard Van Orman Quine Willard Van Orman Quine ( ; known to his friends as "Van"; June 25, 1908 – December 25, 2000) was an American philosopher and logician in the analytic tradition, recognized as "one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century" ...

in ''

Word and Object ''Word and Object'', philosopher Willard Van Orman Quine's most famous work, expands on ideas in ''From a Logical Point of View'' (1953) and reformulates earlier arguments like his attack on the analytic–synthetic distinction from " Two Dogmas ...

'' (1960). Neurath used the simile in several occasions, first in "Problems in War Economics" (1913). In "Anti-Spengler" (1921), he wrote: Neurath's non-foundational analogy of reconstructing piecemeal a ship at sea contrasts with Descartes' much earlier foundationalist analogy—in ''

Discourse on the Method ''Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences'' () is a philosophical and autobiographical treatise published by René Descartes in 1637. It is best known as the source of the famous quotation ...

'' (1637) and ''

Meditations on First Philosophy ''Meditations on First Philosophy, in which the existence of God and the immortality of the soul are demonstrated'' (), often called simply the ''Meditations'', is a philosophical treatise by René Descartes first published in Latin in 1641. T ...

'' (1641)—of demolishing a building all at once and rebuilding from the ground up. Neurath himself pointed out this contrast. The boat was replaced by a

raft A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is usually of basic design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barre ...

in discussions by some philosophers, such as Paul Lorenzen in 1968,

Susan Haack Susan Haack (; born 1945) is a distinguished professor in the humanities, Cooper Senior Scholar in Arts and Sciences, professor of philosophy, and professor of law at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. Haack has written on logic ...

in 1974, and

Ernest Sosa Ernest Sosa (; ; born June 17, 1940) is an American philosopher primarily interested in epistemology. Since 2007 he has been Board of Governors Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, but he spent most of his career at Brown University. ...

in 1980. Lorenzen's use of the simile of the raft was a kind of foundationalist modification of Neurath's original, disagreeing with Neurath by asserting that it is possible to jump into the water and to build a new raft while swimming, i.e., to "start from scratch" to build a new system of knowledge. Prior to Neurath's simile,

Charles Sanders Peirce Charles Sanders Peirce ( ; September 10, 1839 – April 19, 1914) was an American scientist, mathematician, logician, and philosopher who is sometimes known as "the father of pragmatism". According to philosopher Paul Weiss (philosopher), Paul ...

had used with similar purpose the metaphor of walking on a

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

: one only takes another step when the ground beneath one's feet begins to give way.

Neurathian bootstrap

Keith Stanovich Keith E. Stanovich (born 1950) is an American research scientist and psychologist. He is an Emeritus Professor of Applied Psychology and Human Development at the University of Toronto and former Canada Research Chair of Applied Cognitive Science. ...

, in his book ''The Robot's Rebellion'', refers to it as a Neurathian bootstrap, using

bootstrapping In general, bootstrapping usually refers to a self-starting process that is supposed to continue or grow without external input. Many analytical techniques are often called bootstrap methods in reference to their self-starting or self-supporting ...

as an analogy to the

recursive Recursion occurs when the definition of a concept or process depends on a simpler or previous version of itself. Recursion is used in a variety of disciplines ranging from linguistics to logic. The most common application of recursion is in m ...

nature of revising one's beliefs. A "rotten plank" on the ship, for instance, might represent a meme virus or a junk meme (i.e., a meme that is either maladaptive to the individual, or serves no beneficial purpose for the realization of an individual's life goals). It may be impossible to bring the ship to shore for repairs, therefore one may stand on planks that are not rotten in order to repair or replace the ones that are. At a later time, the planks previously used for support may be tested by standing on other planks that are not rotten: In this way, people might proceed to examine and revise their beliefs so as to become more

rational Rationality is the quality of being guided by or based on reason. In this regard, a person acts rationally if they have a good reason for what they do, or a belief is rational if it is based on strong evidence. This quality can apply to an ...

References

{{Reflist Metaphors referring to ships Philosophical analogies Philosophy of science Willard Van Orman Quine

Neurathian bootstrap

See also

References