Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Further remarks about Davidson

What I have said so far, in essence, is that although “A Nice Derangement” of Epitaphs did mark a radical change in some of Davidson’s views (the most famous change being his denial that there are “languages” as philosophers think of languages, namely as requiring conventions shared by a linguistic community that determine the meanings of the sentences), the central doctrine of Davidsonianism remains fixed, namely that the way to think of meanings (of sentences, again – why ‘sentences’ and not words is something I explain at the end of this post) is to think of them as truth conditions generated by a Tarski-style semantic theory. But in NDE the semantic theory is no longer held to be valid for a whole community, or even for an individual speaker: there is now a semantic theory that an individual speaker assumes when she begins to talk to another member of the community (her “prior theory”) and a theory that the speaker and the hearer ideally converge on in the course of a particular conversation or on a particular occasion (their “passing theory”). Thus Davidson became a “contextualist” (his semantics became “occasion sensitive”, in my terminology), but semantics was still a là Tarski.

I said in the previous post that I didn’t agree with Davidson that meanings should be identified with truth-conditions. I agreed, however, that truth-conditions are occasion-sensitive (so Davidson would be right that meanings are equally occasion sensitive if meanings were truth conditions). But I won't repeat all that.

I also argued that Davidson does not really say in what sense a particular speaker’s competence is “modeled” by a passing theory. He only emphasized that it is not known by the speaker.

But let us go a little farther.  For me the main locus of occasion sensitivity, as I explained in my June 2nd post [“Occasion-sensitivity and productivity are not incompatible”] is the reference of names and predicates. Sentences,”E.g., there is milk on the table” have occasion sensitive truth-conditions because the words they contain have different references; e.g.,  a little spilled  milk may or may not count as “milk” for the purpose of evaluating the truth or falsity of “there is milk on the table” on a particular occasion.

Davidson, however, endorsed Quine’s unfortunate doctrine of the indeterminacy of reference.. That is why Davidson says so little about the semantics of individual words; words like "pig", "blue", "home", "coffee" are primary referring expressions in English, for example. And reference is not a dubious metaphysical notion, as Quine thought. Give me that, and it is not hard to say something (of course, not everything) about what a passing theory has to do to “model a speaker’s competence"): it has to tell us what his or her words referred to on the relevant occasion.
   (to be continued)


48 comments:

  1. I certainly have a lot of reading to do...

    ReplyDelete
  2. We stumbled ovver here from a different website aand thought I might as well check things out.

    I like what I see so now i amm following you.
    Look forward to finding out about your web page again.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. very nice
    <a href="https://www.lasergames.ma/ </a>

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice Article about your business.
    you can improve you think to get more idea from here Online Invoicing

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good post, thanks for sharing it with us, hope to see more such posts from you!
    จีคลับ

    ReplyDelete
  7. MedicalTheses.Com Good way of telling, good post to take facts regarding my presentation subject matter, which i am going to deliver in my college

    ReplyDelete
  8. PaymeToDoHomework.Com I personally like your post, you have shared good article. It will help me in great deal.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Very helpful suggestions that help in the optimizing website. thank for sharing the link.

    หนังตลก

    ReplyDelete
  10. Good work…unique site and interesting too… keep it up…looking forward for more updates.Good luck to all of you and thanks so much for your hard-work.
    Interpretation Services in India, Closed Captioning Services in Bangalore,Transcription Companies in Bangalore

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am very happy when read this blog post because blog post written in good
    manner and write on good topic. Thanks for sharing valuable information.

    Web Design Company Bangalore,
    Digital Marketing Company

    ReplyDelete

  12. شركة شراء اثاث مستعمل بالرياض
    بيع اثاث مستعمل بالرياض
    شراء اثاث مستعمل بالرياض
    شراء اثاث مستعمل الرياض
    اثاث مستعمل بالرياض
    اثاث مستعمل
    شراء اثاث مستعمل
    شراء الاثاث المستعمل بالرياض
    شراء اثاث مستعمل شمال الرياض
    شركات شراء الاثاث المستعمل بالرياض
    ارقام شراء الاثاث المستعمل بالرياض
    محلات شراء الاثاث المستعمل بالرياض
    حقين شراء الاثاث المستعمل بالرياض
    إذا كنت تريد شراء أثاث جديد وفي غاية الروعة وترغب في التخلص بشكل نهائي من اثاثك القديم فمعنا لديك افضل الفرص للحصول علي اثاث جديد في غاية الجمال والزوق الرفيع فعندما تقوم بالبيع عندما تكون حلة الاثاث جيدة يكون السعر ال>ي تتقاضاه مجزي مقابل تلك الاثاث القديم وكل هذا سيعطيك الفرصة لشراء اثاث اخر مع دفع الفرق البسيط وعدم التكلفة الباهظة فأنك ستجد كل هذا لدي شركة شراء الاثاث المستعمل بالرياض فقط فنحن نتميز بالصدارة لاننا نقوم بالشراء بأسعار ترضي عملائنا وتتناسب مع اثاثك الذي ترغب في التخلص بشكل نهائي منه وبيعه حيث أن شركة المستقبل المتميزة لديها العديد من الامكانيات مثل:
    • أقوى وامهر فريق عمل متخصص في نقل العفش وحملة لتدريبهم علي اعلي مستوي من المهارة والتقنية الفنية للحفاظ علي كل قطعة اثاث .
    • نتميز ايضا بتواجد كبري السسارات المجهزة علي اعلي المستويات للحفاظ علي عفشك من اي ضرر او تلف يمكن ان يلحق به.
    • كما اننا نقوم بتغليف كل قطعة اثاث يرغب العميل في بيعها للحفاظ علي سلامته وعدم التعرض لاي تلفيات .
    • اسعار شركة المستقبل لا مثيل لها لان يتم الفصل فيها افضل خبراء في تقدير مبلغ كل قطعة اثاث بالقدر الكافي .

    ReplyDelete
  13. Those who come to read your article will find lots of helpful and informative tips Harvard Business Case Study Solution

    ReplyDelete
  14. This is great information for students. This article is very helpful i really like this blog thanks. I also have some information relevant for online dissertation help. Case Assistant

    ReplyDelete
  15. Amazing article thanks or sharing.. CS Homework Help Dissertation Guidance Provides quality Online Dissertation Help for students.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great Information,it has lot for stuff which is informative.I will share the post with my friends. Best Thesis Help

    ReplyDelete
  17. I recently found many useful information in your website especially this blog page. Among the lots of comments on your articles. Thanks for sharing.
    Dewa Togel

    ReplyDelete
  18. I was very pleased to find this site.I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post.
    situs judi bola resmi

    ReplyDelete
  19. Para pemain ini suka bertaruh, menaikkan atau menaikkan kembali. Mereka adalah orang-orang yang pergi lebih awal di turnamen atau memiliki tumpukan besar untuk mengakhiri turnamen. Para pemain ini bisa menjadi masalah terutama jika Anda dibiarkan di atas meja. jenis pemain ini harus mempersempit entri Tangan pilihan Anda
    asikqq
    dewaqq
    sumoqq
    interqq
    hobiqq
    rajawaliqq
    http://192.254.236.33/hobiqq78/

    ReplyDelete
  20. The illuminati is a secret society that strives to promote spiritual and moral values. It was founded under principles of love, justice, unity, peace, and relief. The illuminati bring together individuals of goodwill, irrespective of their differences and backgrounds, and ensure that these good men become better in the society. Do you wish to be a member of the illuminati and become rich, famous, powerful and excel in life? Were you will be giving $900,000 as first benefit. Kindly contact me now or add me up whatsapp +2348116072220Email  Williamilluminati293@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete

  21. I am reading your post from the beginning, it was so interesting to read & I feel thanks to you for posting such a good blog, keep updates regularly.Professional Web design services are provided by W3BMINDS- Website designer in Lucknow.
    Web development Company | Web design company

    ReplyDelete
  22. you may discover masses of Bangalore escorts in but i'm always at the tongue of human beings as I recognize what they want and a way to fulfill them.
    bangalore escorts
    escorts services in bangalore

    ReplyDelete
  23. this is a truth bangalore escorts agency that everyone is seeking out satisfaction and amusement
    bangalore escorts
    bangalore escorts services

    ReplyDelete
  24. a difference among what humans say and what they offer. however here, we are definitely honest and obvious with you in this remember.
    https://www.bedpari.com/hyderabad-escorts.html
    Hyderabad escorts

    ReplyDelete
  25. effective lease expert Bangalore impartial escorts after acting proper checking and research.
    https://www.nehathakur.com/escorts-service-novotal-hotel-bangalore.php
    escort service near novotel hotel bangalore

    ReplyDelete

  26. This Is Really Useful And Nice Information. พนันบอลเล่นยังไง
    This are such great articles. พนันบอลเล่นยังไง This articles can help you to make some new ideas.
    พนันบอลเล่นยังไง I appreciate for reading my blogs.


    ReplyDelete
  27. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  28. z8 slot, the most followed game website, PG Slots has selected popular game camps, both visual and sound fun that you have never seen from any website. We've got it all here, so don't delay.

    ReplyDelete
  29. อยากเลิกใช้ รถมือสอง ต้องเล่น slot pg อยากเลิกใช้รถมือสอง เปลี่ยนเป็นรถมือหนึ่งมีเงินดาวน์รถได้สบายๆต้องมีช่องทางหาเงินเพิ่ม เข้ามาเล่น slot pg เลย มีเงินใช้เเน่นอน

    ReplyDelete
  30. เว็บไซต์ สล็อต ค่ายเว็บดังพร้อมสร้างความตื่นเต้นในทุกๆครั้งที่สปินยิ่งกว่าถูกรางวัล pg slot- th.com ปรับปรุงให้เกมมีความเที่ยงธรรม แก่คนที่เข้ามาสปินทำให้เข้ารางวัลได้ง่ายๆ

    ReplyDelete
  31. How does Davidson's endorsement of Quine's doctrine of the indeterminacy of reference impact his semantic theory according to Putnam? Tel U

    ReplyDelete
  32. super slot ค่ายเกมสล็อตออนไลน์ที่เว็บ PGSLOT ของเรานำมาให้ลูกค้าทุกท่านได้เล่น เพื่อความสนุกสนานเพลิดเพลิน ที่มาพร้อมกับความปลอดภัย และรวดเร็วของแอดมินตลอดทั้งวัน

    ReplyDelete