Neurath's Ship

Quine, Willard van Orman
From a Logical Point of View : Nine Logical Philosophical Essays
Second Editon, Revised
1980
Harvard UP
PP.78 - 79

Yet we must not leap to the fatalistic conclusion that we are stuck with the conceptual scheme that we grew up in. We can change it bit by bit, plank by plank, though meanwhile there is nothing to carry us along but the evolving conceptual scheme itself. The philosopher's task was well compared by Neurath to that of mariner who must rebuild his ship on the open sea.