Metaphysics And The Interpretation Of Persons: Davidson On Thinking And Conceptual Schemes

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-1-1986

Published In

Synthese

Abstract

Certain metaphysical and epistemological presuppositions are shown to play a role in the defense of Davidson's claims that an empirically constructed theory of truth provides an adequate theory of meaning for any natural language. Dadivson puts forward demonstrative arguments in favor of these presuppositions in ‘On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme’, ‘Thought and Talk’, and ‘The Method of Truth in Metaphysics’. These arguments are examined and found to include controversial and dubitable assumptions as premises. It is then suggested that both these controversial assumptions and Davidson's metaphysical and epistemological presuppositions can be partially defended, however, by dialectical, interpretive, and historical arguments that elucidate the nature of persons.

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