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Single Idea 3972
[filed under theme 2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 5. Objectivity
]
Full Idea
The basis on which the concepts of truth and objectivity depend for application is a community of understanding, agreement among speakers on how each is to be understood.
Gist of Idea
Truth and objectivity depend on a community of speakers to interpret what they mean
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
Obviously all understanding is, in practice, an interpretation by a community, but that isn't what 'truth' means. We mean 'true independently of any community'.
The
15 ideas
from 'Davidson on himself'
3965
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Mental entities do not add to the physical furniture of the world
[Davidson]
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3960
|
There are no such things as minds, but people have mental properties
[Davidson]
|
3961
|
Obviously all mental events are causally related to physical events
[Davidson]
|
3964
|
If the mind is an anomaly, this makes reduction of the mental to the physical impossible
[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
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Absence of all rationality would be absence of thought
[Davidson]
|
3970
|
Thought is only fully developed if we communicate with others
[Davidson]
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3971
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There is simply no alternative to the 'principle of charity' in interpreting what others do
[Davidson]
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3972
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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]
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3974
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Our meanings are partly fixed by events of which we may be ignorant
[Davidson]
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