more from this thinker
|
more from this text
Single Idea 19154
[filed under theme 19. Language / F. Communication / 6. Interpreting Language / c. Principle of charity
]
Full Idea
The principle of charity says that it is unavoidable that the pattern of sentences to which a speaker assents reflects the semantics of the logical constants.
Gist of Idea
The principle of charity says an interpreter must assume the logical constants
Source
Donald Davidson (Truth and Predication [2005], 3)
Book Ref
Davidson,Donald: 'Truth and Predication' [Belknap Harvard 2005], p.62
A Reaction
That is not all the principle says, of course. Davidson seems to assume classical logic here, with a bivalent semantics. I wonder if all speakers use 'false' in the normal way, as well as 'true'? Do all languages even contain 'true'?
The
21 ideas
with the same theme
[assume people aim to speak truth]:
4144
|
Common human behaviour enables us to interpret an unknown language
[Wittgenstein]
|
11049
|
To communicate, language needs agreement in judgment as well as definition
[Wittgenstein]
|
6314
|
Weird translations are always possible, but they improve if we impose our own logic on them
[Quine]
|
6315
|
We should be suspicious of a translation which implies that a people have very strange beliefs
[Quine]
|
7330
|
The principle of charity only applies to the logical constants
[Quine, by Miller,A]
|
6316
|
We translate in a way that makes the largest possible number of statements true
[Wilson,NL]
|
6275
|
You can't say 'most speaker's beliefs are true'; in some areas this is not so, and you can't count beliefs
[Putnam]
|
18703
|
Davidson's Cogito: 'I think, therefore I am generally right'
[Davidson, by Button]
|
3971
|
There is simply no alternative to the 'principle of charity' in interpreting what others do
[Davidson]
|
8869
|
The principle of charity attributes largely consistent logic and largely true beliefs to speakers
[Davidson]
|
19154
|
The principle of charity says an interpreter must assume the logical constants
[Davidson]
|
3402
|
If someone says "I do and don't like x", we don't assume a contradiction
[Kim]
|
3403
|
We assume people believe the obvious logical consequences of their known beliefs
[Kim]
|
9040
|
Charity should minimize inexplicable error, rather than maximising true beliefs
[Evans]
|
15539
|
Basic to pragmatics is taking a message in a way that makes sense of it
[Lewis]
|
8615
|
We need natural properties in order to motivate the principle of charity
[Lewis]
|
8614
|
A sophisticated principle of charity sometimes imputes error as well as truth
[Lewis]
|
2762
|
Charity makes native beliefs largely true, and Humanity makes them similar to ours
[Dancy,J]
|
7328
|
The principle of charity is holistic, saying we must hold most of someone's system of beliefs to be true
[Miller,A]
|
7329
|
Maybe we should interpret speakers as intelligible, rather than speaking truth
[Miller,A]
|
4734
|
Cryptographers can recognise that something is a language, without translating it
[O'Grady]
|