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Full Idea
We have the idea of belief from its role in the interpretation of language; as a private attitude it is not intelligible except in relation to public language. So a creature must be a member of a speech community to have the concept of belief.
Gist of Idea
The concept of belief can only derive from relationship to a speech community
Source
Donald Davidson (Thought and Talk [1975], p.22)
Book Ref
'Mind and Language', ed/tr. Guttenplan,Samuel [OUP 1977], p.22
A Reaction
This shows how Wittgenstein's Private Language Argument (e.g. Idea 4152) hovers behind Davidson's philosophy. The idea is quite persuasive. A solitary creature just follows its mental states. The question of whether it believes them is a meta-thought.
Related Idea
Idea 4152 Getting from perceptions to words cannot be a private matter; the rules need an institution of use [Wittgenstein]
| 21801 | Unlike Descartes' atomism, Spinoza held a holistic view of belief [Spinoza, by Schmid] |
| 18969 | How do you distinguish three beliefs from four beliefs or two beliefs? [Quine] |
| 6397 | The concept of belief can only derive from relationship to a speech community [Davidson] |
| 8867 | A belief requires understanding the distinctions of true-and-false, and appearance-and-reality [Davidson] |
| 3491 | Beliefs are part of a network, and also exist against a background [Searle] |
| 3490 | Beliefs only make sense as part of a network of other beliefs [Searle] |
| 3100 | You have to reaffirm all your beliefs when you make a logical inference [Harman] |
| 2502 | How do you count beliefs? [Fodor] |
| 2735 | Could you have a single belief on its own? [Audi,R] |