Was Davidson's Project a Carnapian Explication of Meaning?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15173/jhap.v3i4.46Abstract
There are two main interpretive positions on Davidson’s project in the theory of meaning. The Replacement Theory holds that Davidson aimed to replace the theory of meaning with the theory of truth on the grounds that meaning is too unclear a notion for systematic theorizing. The Traditional Pursuit Theory, in contrast, holds that Davidson aimed to pursue the traditional project with a clever bit of indirection, exploiting the recursive structure of a truth theory to reveal compositional semantic structure and placing constraints on it sufficient for its canonical assignments of truth conditions to be used for interpretation. This paper responds to a recent defense of a sophisticated version of the Replacement Theory by Gary Ebbs according to which Davidson was engaged in a Carnapian explication of meaning, intending to preserve only aspects of the usage of ‘means’ most important to us. I argue the Explication Interpretation cannot be sustained in the face of a detailed look at the passages that principally motivate it in “Truth and Meaning” when we take into account their local context, their context in the paper as a whole, and the context of that paper in Davidson’s contemporaneous work, and later work which tries to improve the formulations which he advanced in his early papers.References
Barwise, Jon, and John Perry. 1981. Semantic innocence and Uncompromising Situations. Midwest Studies in Philosophy 6:387-403.
Burge, Tyler. 1992. Philosophy of Language and Mind: 1950-1990. Philosophical Review 101 (1):3-51.
Chihara, Charles S. 1975. Davidson's Extensional Theory of Meaning. Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition 28 (1):1-15.
Cummins, Robert. 2002. Truth and Meaning. In Meaning and Truth: Investigations in Philosophical Semantics, edited by J. K. Campbell, M. O'Rourke and D. Shier. New York: Seven Bridges Press.
David, Marian. 2008. Tarski's Convention T and the Concept of Truth. In New Essays on Tarski and Philosophy, edited by D. Patterson: Oxford University Press.
Davidson, Donald. 1965. Theories of Meaning and Learnable Languages. In Proceedings of the 1964 International Congress for Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science., edited by Y. Bar-Hillel. Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing Co. Reprinted in Davidson 2001d.
———. 1967. Truth and Meaning. Synthese 17:304-323. Reprinted in Davidson 2001d.
———. 1970. Semantics for Natural Languages. In Linguaggi nella Societa e nella Tecnica. Milan: Comunita. Reprinted in Davidson 2001d.
———. 1973a. In Defence of Convention T. In Truth, Syntax and Modality, edited by H. Leblanc. Dordretch: North-Holland Publishing Company. Reprinted in Davidson 2001d.
———. 1973b. Radical Interpretation. Dialectica 27:314-328. Reprinted in Davidson 2001d.
———. 1974. Belief and the Basis of Meaning. Synthese 27:309-323. Reprinted in Davidson 2001d.
———. 1975. Thought and Talk. In Mind and Language, edited by S. Guttenplan. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Reprinted in Davidson 2001d.
———. 1976. Reply to Foster. In Truth and Meaning: Essays in Semantics, edited by G. Evans and J. McDowell. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Reprinted in Davidson 2001d.
———. 1985. A New Basis for Decision Theory. Theory and Decision 18:87-98.
———. 1990. The Structure and Content of Truth. The Journal of Philosophy 87 (6):279-328.
———. 2001a. On Saying That. In Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation. New York: Clarendon Press. Original edition, 1968.
———. 2001b. Rational Animals. In Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective. New York: Clarendon Press. Original edition, 1982.
———. 2001c. A Coherence Theory of Truth and Knowledge. In Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective. New York: Clarendon Press. Original edition, 1983.
———. 2001d. Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation. 2nd ed. New York: Clarendon Press. Original edition, 1984.
———. 2001e. Three Varieties of Knowledge. In Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective. New York: Clarendon Press. Original edition, 1988.
———. 2004a. An Interview with Donald Davidson. In Problems of Rationality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
———. 2004b. Problems of Rationality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
———. 2004c. A Unified Theory of Thought, Meaning, and Action. In Problems of Rationality. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Original edition, 1980.
———. 2005. A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs. In Truth, Language, and History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ebbs, Gary. 2012. Davidson's Explication of Meaning. In Donald Davidson on Truth, Meaning and the Mental, edited by G. Preyer. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Foster, John A. 1976. Meaning and Truth Theory. In Truth and Meaning: Essays in Semantics, edited by G. Evans and J. McDowell. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Glock, Hans-Johann. 2003. Quine and Davidson on language, thought, and reality. Cambridge, UK ; New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
Horwich, Paul. 2005. Reflections on Meaning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Katz, Jerrold J. 1982. Common Sense in Semantics. Notre Dame J Form Log 23:174-218.
Lepore, Ernest, and Kirk Ludwig. 2005. Donald Davidson: Meaning, Truth, Language, and Reality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Quine, Willard Van Orman. 1953. Notes on the Theory of Reference. In From a Logical Point of View. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
———. 1960. Word and Object. Cambridge: MIT Press.
———. 1969. Epistemology Naturalized. In Ontological
Relativity and Other Essays. New York: Columbia University Press.
Soames, S. 2008. Truth and Meaning: In Perspective. Truth and Its Deformities: Midwest Studies in Philosophy 32:1-19.
Soames, Scott. 1992. Truth, Meaning, and Understanding. Philosophical Studies 65 (1-2):17-35.
Stich, Stephen. 1976. Davidson's Semantic Program. Canadian Journal of Philosophy 6:201-227.
Tarski, Alfred. 1944. The Semantic Conception of Truth and the Foundations of Semantics. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 4:341-376.
———. 1983. The Concept of Truth in Formalized Languages. In Logic, Semantics, Metamathematics. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company. Original edition, 1934.
Burge, Tyler. 1992. Philosophy of Language and Mind: 1950-1990. Philosophical Review 101 (1):3-51.
Chihara, Charles S. 1975. Davidson's Extensional Theory of Meaning. Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition 28 (1):1-15.
Cummins, Robert. 2002. Truth and Meaning. In Meaning and Truth: Investigations in Philosophical Semantics, edited by J. K. Campbell, M. O'Rourke and D. Shier. New York: Seven Bridges Press.
David, Marian. 2008. Tarski's Convention T and the Concept of Truth. In New Essays on Tarski and Philosophy, edited by D. Patterson: Oxford University Press.
Davidson, Donald. 1965. Theories of Meaning and Learnable Languages. In Proceedings of the 1964 International Congress for Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science., edited by Y. Bar-Hillel. Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing Co. Reprinted in Davidson 2001d.
———. 1967. Truth and Meaning. Synthese 17:304-323. Reprinted in Davidson 2001d.
———. 1970. Semantics for Natural Languages. In Linguaggi nella Societa e nella Tecnica. Milan: Comunita. Reprinted in Davidson 2001d.
———. 1973a. In Defence of Convention T. In Truth, Syntax and Modality, edited by H. Leblanc. Dordretch: North-Holland Publishing Company. Reprinted in Davidson 2001d.
———. 1973b. Radical Interpretation. Dialectica 27:314-328. Reprinted in Davidson 2001d.
———. 1974. Belief and the Basis of Meaning. Synthese 27:309-323. Reprinted in Davidson 2001d.
———. 1975. Thought and Talk. In Mind and Language, edited by S. Guttenplan. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Reprinted in Davidson 2001d.
———. 1976. Reply to Foster. In Truth and Meaning: Essays in Semantics, edited by G. Evans and J. McDowell. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Reprinted in Davidson 2001d.
———. 1985. A New Basis for Decision Theory. Theory and Decision 18:87-98.
———. 1990. The Structure and Content of Truth. The Journal of Philosophy 87 (6):279-328.
———. 2001a. On Saying That. In Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation. New York: Clarendon Press. Original edition, 1968.
———. 2001b. Rational Animals. In Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective. New York: Clarendon Press. Original edition, 1982.
———. 2001c. A Coherence Theory of Truth and Knowledge. In Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective. New York: Clarendon Press. Original edition, 1983.
———. 2001d. Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation. 2nd ed. New York: Clarendon Press. Original edition, 1984.
———. 2001e. Three Varieties of Knowledge. In Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective. New York: Clarendon Press. Original edition, 1988.
———. 2004a. An Interview with Donald Davidson. In Problems of Rationality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
———. 2004b. Problems of Rationality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
———. 2004c. A Unified Theory of Thought, Meaning, and Action. In Problems of Rationality. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Original edition, 1980.
———. 2005. A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs. In Truth, Language, and History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ebbs, Gary. 2012. Davidson's Explication of Meaning. In Donald Davidson on Truth, Meaning and the Mental, edited by G. Preyer. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Foster, John A. 1976. Meaning and Truth Theory. In Truth and Meaning: Essays in Semantics, edited by G. Evans and J. McDowell. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Glock, Hans-Johann. 2003. Quine and Davidson on language, thought, and reality. Cambridge, UK ; New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
Horwich, Paul. 2005. Reflections on Meaning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Katz, Jerrold J. 1982. Common Sense in Semantics. Notre Dame J Form Log 23:174-218.
Lepore, Ernest, and Kirk Ludwig. 2005. Donald Davidson: Meaning, Truth, Language, and Reality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Quine, Willard Van Orman. 1953. Notes on the Theory of Reference. In From a Logical Point of View. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
———. 1960. Word and Object. Cambridge: MIT Press.
———. 1969. Epistemology Naturalized. In Ontological
Relativity and Other Essays. New York: Columbia University Press.
Soames, S. 2008. Truth and Meaning: In Perspective. Truth and Its Deformities: Midwest Studies in Philosophy 32:1-19.
Soames, Scott. 1992. Truth, Meaning, and Understanding. Philosophical Studies 65 (1-2):17-35.
Stich, Stephen. 1976. Davidson's Semantic Program. Canadian Journal of Philosophy 6:201-227.
Tarski, Alfred. 1944. The Semantic Conception of Truth and the Foundations of Semantics. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 4:341-376.
———. 1983. The Concept of Truth in Formalized Languages. In Logic, Semantics, Metamathematics. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company. Original edition, 1934.
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