Introduction. Paolo Parrini & relative a priori principles

Abstract

Paolo Parrini devoted concerted philosophical attention to theoretical philosophy, re-examining core issues in epistemology, philosophy of language and history and philosophy of science, not only for their intrinsic philosophical interest, but also for their cultural significance. This pair of papers published here in English he himself affiliated closely. “Analyticity and Epistemological Holism: Prague Alternatives” appeared originally in Italian in 2006; “Quine on Analyticity and Holism. A critical appraisal in dialogue with Sandro Nannini,” in 2018. He translated both into English early in 2020, posting their original Italian together with their new English versions on his own website. Doubtless both are related to his research interests in Herbart’s conceptual Bearbeitung, which surely must be a vigorous form of conceptual explication. Most unfortunately, Paolo was taken from us suddenly, unexpectedly, at the start of July (2020). What more we can learn from him, we shall learn from his considerable published accomplishments. This brief Introduction seeks to epitomize the core issues and significance of this pair of papers, in tribute to him and his very substantial philosophical achievements.