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Donald Davidson

Donald Davidson Biography

Philosopher

Donald Davidson was an American philosopher known for his influential contributions to the fields of philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and epistemology. His work had a profound impact on 20th-century philosophy, particularly in the areas of meaning, truth, and cognitive interpretation.

Donald Davidson was an American philosopher known for his influential contributions to the fields of philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and epistemology. His work had a profound impact on 20th-century philosophy, particularly in the areas of meaning, truth, and cognitive interpretation.

Related Quotes

“Metaphor is the dreamwork of language and, like all dreamwork, its interpretation reflects as much on the interpreter as on the originator. The interpretation of dreams requires collaboration between a dreamer and a waker, even if they be the same person; and the act of interpretation is itself a work of the imagination. So too understanding a metaphor is as much a creative endeavour as making a metaphor, and as little guided by rules.”

Creativity Dreams Rules Metaphors

Book:Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation

Source: Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation

“Nothing in the world, no object or event, would be true or false if there were not thinking creatures.”

Ifs Thinking World Would Be Events Objects Creatures Being True True Or False

Book:Truth and Predication

Source: Truth and Predication

“Even if someone knew the entire physical history of the world, and every mental event were identical with a physical, it would notfollow that he could predict or explain a single mental event (so described, of course).”

Ifs World Courses Language Events World History Identical Single Man

Author:Donald Davidson

“There is no such thing as a language, not if a language is anything like what many philosophers and linguists have supposed. Thereis therefore no such thing to be learned, mastered, or born with. We must give up the idea of a clearly defined shared structure which language-users acquire and then apply to cases.”

Ifs Giving Ideas Language Born Cases Giving Up Structure Philosopher Defined Acquire Users Linguistics Relativism Linguists

Author:Donald Davidson

“Mental events such as perceivings, rememberings, decisions, and actions resist capture in the net of physical theory.”

Action Remember Decision Events Theory Capture

Book:Essays on Actions and Events: Philosophical Essays

Source: Essays on Actions and Events: Philosophical Essays

“If we cannot find a way to interpret the utterances and other behaviour of a creature as revealing a set of beliefs largely consistent and true by our standards, we have no reason to count that creature as rational, as having beliefs, or as saying anything.”

Ifs Way Reason Belief Creatures Standards Rational Consistent No Reason Behaviour Rationality Revealing Utterance

Author:Donald Davidson

“Conceptual relativism is a heady and exotic doctrine, or would be if we could make good sense of it. The trouble is, as so often in philosophy, it is hard to improve intelligibility while retaining the excitement.”

Ifs Hard Philosophy Would Be Trouble Doctrine Excitement Good Sense Exotic Relativism Retaining

Book:Inquiries Into Truth and Interpretation: Philosophical Essays

Source: Inquiries Into Truth and Interpretation: Philosophical Essays

“The dominant metaphor of conceptual relativism, that of differing points of view, seems to betray an underlying paradox. Differentpoints of view make sense, but only if there is a common co-ordinate system on which to plot them; yet the existence of a common system belies the claim of dramatic incomparability.”

Ifs Seems Views Common Existence Claims Metaphor Point Of View Make Sense Dramatic Plot Paradox Betray Dominant Relativism

Book:Inquiries Into Truth and Interpretation: Philosophical Essays

Source: Inquiries Into Truth and Interpretation: Philosophical Essays

“Terminological infelicities have a way of breeding conceptual confusion.”

Way Confusion Breeding

Book:Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective: Philosophical Essays

Source: Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective: Philosophical Essays

“There are three basic problems: how a mind can know the world of nature, how it is possible for one mind to know another, and how it is possible to know the contents of our own minds without resort to observation or evidence. It is a mistake, I shall urge, to suppose that these questions can be collapsed into two, or taken into isolation.”

Knows World Mind Two Problem Three Mistake Taken Evidence Observation Isolation Urges Resorts

Book:Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective: Philosophical Essays

Source: Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective: Philosophical Essays

About the Author

Born: March 6, 1917
Died: August 30, 2003
Known for: Philosopher
Quotes: 10

Related Topics

Ifs Events Relativism World Creatures Language Way Would Be Acquire Action

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

Inquiries Into Truth and Interpretation: Philosophical EssaysRelated source material

Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective: Philosophical EssaysRelated source material

Essays on Actions and Events: Philosophical EssaysRelated source material

Inquiries into Truth and InterpretationRelated source material

Truth and PredicationRelated source material

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