Donald Davidson's Philosophy of Language: An Introduction

By Bjorn T. Ramberg

Book Overview

This book is an introduction to and interpretation of the philosophy of language devised by Donald Davidson over the past 25 years. The guiding intuition is that Davidson's work is best understood as an ongoing attempt to purge semantics of theoretical reifications. Seen in this light the recent attack on the notion of language itself emerges as a natural development of his Quinian scepticism towards "meanings" and his rejections of reference-based semantic theories.

Linguistic understanding is, for Davidson, essentially dynamic, arising only through a continuous process of theory construction and reconstruction. The result is a conception of semantics in which the notion of interpretation and not the notion of knowing a language is fundamental.

In the course of his book Bjorn Ramberg provides a critical discussion of reference-based semantic theories, challenging the standard accounts of the principle of charity and elucidating the notion of radical interpretation. The final chapter on incommensurability ties in with the discussions of Kuhn's work in the philosophy of science and suggests certain links between Davidson's analytic semantics and hermeneutic theory.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0631164588
• ISBN13: 9780631164586
• Release Date: July 1989
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Minor classic.

This book is, in my opinion, a minor classic which should be read by anyone interested in Davidson's work. Ramberg's exposition, though quite brief, repays close reading and is particularly useful for those who wish to situate Davidson's thought relative to continental or historical figures (another which is useful in this regard is Jeff Malpas' text, which has unfortunately gone out of print). In particular, Ramberg's discussion of incommensurability, and the effort to distinguish Davidson's position both from 'linguistic Kantianism' and relativism, help to show what is original about his philosophy, and to correct various misinterpretations thereof.