| Summary: | In "Radical Interpretation" and "A Nice Derangement of
Epitaphs" Donald Davidson addresses the question how we are
able to understand what people say. Davidson intends the
positive arguments in these two essays to be part of a
coherent explanation of communication. However, there are, I
will argue, inconsistencies between the theories in his two
essays which suggest that they are not reconcilable into a
coherent picture.
In chapters one and two I will explicate the arguments
that Davidson presents in "Radical Interpretation" and "A Nice
Derangement of Epitaphs". In chapter three I will discuss
several areas in which discrepancies between the positions
presented in these two papers seem to arise. The issues that
will be discussed in chapter three stem from an apparent
inconsistency in Davidson's position regarding the time period
over which interpretation should occur. In "Radical
Interpretation" Davidson maintains that interpretation should
occur over an extended period of time, while in "A Nice
Derangement of Epitaphs" he maintains that what is necessary
for interpretation cannot be learned prior to the occasion of
utterance. Although it may appear that he is inconsistent on
this issue, I will argue that the differences between the descriptions of interpretation m the two papers are
differences of emphasis rather than differences of substance.
In chapter four I will argue that there is, however, a
genuine inconsistency between the conception of linguistic
meaning presented in "Radical Interpretation" and the one
presented in "A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs". Whereas in
"Radical Interpretation" meaning is held to be discovered by
the interpreter, in "A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs" meaning
is held to be created by the speaker and interpreter. I will argue that this latter conception of meaning is problematic
because it assumes that meaning is derived from, rather than
being independent of, communication. I will conclude that the
theories of interpretation presented in these two essays are,
therefore, irreconcilable and that, of the two, the picture
presented in "Radical Interpretation" is superior. === Arts, Faculty of === Philosophy, Department of === Graduate
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