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Single Idea 3970
[filed under theme 19. Language / F. Communication / 4. Private Language
]
Full Idea
We would have no fully-fledge thoughts if we were not in communication with others.
Gist of Idea
Thought is only fully developed if we communicate with others
Source
Donald Davidson (Davidson on himself [1994], p.233)
Book Ref
'A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind', ed/tr. Guttenplan,Samuel [Blackwell 1995], p.233
A Reaction
This seems a plausible empirical observation, though I would doubt any a priori proof of it. If animals could speak, they would become intellectuals?
The
15 ideas
from 'Davidson on himself'
3960
|
There are no such things as minds, but people have mental properties
[Davidson]
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3964
|
If the mind is an anomaly, this makes reduction of the mental to the physical impossible
[Davidson]
|
3965
|
Mental entities do not add to the physical furniture of the world
[Davidson]
|
3961
|
Obviously all mental events are causally related to physical events
[Davidson]
|
3963
|
There are no strict psychophysical laws connecting mental and physical events
[Davidson]
|
3966
|
The correct conclusion is ontological monism combined with conceptual dualism
[Davidson]
|
3962
|
Cause and effect relations between events must follow strict laws
[Davidson]
|
3969
|
There are no ultimate standards of rationality, since we only assess others by our own standard
[Davidson]
|
3968
|
Propositions explain nothing without an explanation of how sentences manage to name them
[Davidson]
|
3967
|
Absence of all rationality would be absence of thought
[Davidson]
|
3970
|
Thought is only fully developed if we communicate with others
[Davidson]
|
3971
|
There is simply no alternative to the 'principle of charity' in interpreting what others do
[Davidson]
|
3972
|
Truth and objectivity depend on a community of speakers to interpret what they mean
[Davidson]
|
3973
|
Without a teacher, the concept of 'getting things right or wrong' is meaningless
[Davidson]
|
3974
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Our meanings are partly fixed by events of which we may be ignorant
[Davidson]
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