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Full Idea
Until a baseline has been established by communication with someone else, there is no point is saying one's own thoughts have a propositional content. Hence knowledge of another mind is essential all thought and all knowledge.
Gist of Idea
Content of thought is established through communication, so knowledge needs other minds
Source
Donald Davidson (Three Varieties of Knowledge [1991], p.213)
Book Ref
Davidson,Donald: 'Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective' [OUP 2001], p.213
A Reaction
This really is building a skyscraper on the slightly shaky claims of the Private Language Argument (e.g. Idea 4158). Animals are so important in discussions of this kind. Is an albatross more or less devoid of thought and belief?
Related Idea
Idea 4158 An 'inner process' stands in need of outward criteria [Wittgenstein]
10347 | Objectivity is intersubjectivity [Davidson] |
10346 | Knowing other minds rests on knowing both one's own mind and the external world [Davidson, by Dummett] |
8866 | If we know other minds through behaviour, but not our own, we should assume they aren't like me [Davidson] |
8868 | Objective truth arises from interpersonal communication [Davidson] |
8867 | A belief requires understanding the distinctions of true-and-false, and appearance-and-reality [Davidson] |
8869 | The principle of charity attributes largely consistent logic and largely true beliefs to speakers [Davidson] |
8870 | Content of thought is established through communication, so knowledge needs other minds [Davidson] |