Ideas from 'Davidson on himself' by Donald Davidson [1994], by Theme Structure

[found in 'A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind' (ed/tr Guttenplan,Samuel) [Blackwell 1995,0-631-19996-9]].

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2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 5. Objectivity
Truth and objectivity depend on a community of speakers to interpret what they mean
                        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.
                        From: Donald Davidson (Davidson on himself [1994], 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'.
There are no ultimate standards of rationality, since we only assess others by our own standard
                        Full Idea: It makes no sense to speak of comparing or agreeing on ultimate standards of rationality, since it is our own standards in each case to which we must turn in interpreting others. This is not a failure of objectivity, but where 'questions come to an end'.
                        From: Donald Davidson (Davidson on himself [1994], p.232)
                        A reaction: This seems wrong, given the commitment to truth and charity in interpretation. He could have said the same about perception, but I doubt if he would.
15. Nature of Minds / A. Nature of Mind / 1. Mind / a. Mind
There are no such things as minds, but people have mental properties
                        Full Idea: There are no such things as minds, but people have mental properties.
                        From: Donald Davidson (Davidson on himself [1994], p.231)
                        A reaction: I think this is right. It fits with Searle's notion of consciousness as a property, like the liquidity of water. I don't panic if I think "I have no mind, but I have extraordinary properties".
17. Mind and Body / D. Property Dualism / 1. Reductionism critique
If the mind is an anomaly, this makes reduction of the mental to the physical impossible
                        Full Idea: If there are no strict psychophysical laws, this rules out reductionism, either by definition of mental predicates in physical terms, or by way of bridging laws.
                        From: Donald Davidson (Davidson on himself [1994], p.231)
                        A reaction: But it is by no means clear that there are no psycho-physical laws. How could this be known a priori?
17. Mind and Body / D. Property Dualism / 2. Anomalous Monism
Mental entities do not add to the physical furniture of the world
                        Full Idea: Mental entities do not add to the physical furniture of the world.
                        From: Donald Davidson (Davidson on himself [1994], p.231)
                        A reaction: This seems to me clearly true, however we propose to characterise mental events.
Obviously all mental events are causally related to physical events
                        Full Idea: All mental events are causally related to physical events. ..This seems obvious.
                        From: Donald Davidson (Davidson on himself [1994], p.231)
                        A reaction: All mental events are physically caused. Some bodily physical events result from mental events. Probably all mental events have some effect of other mental events (all of which are in some sense physical).
There are no strict psychophysical laws connecting mental and physical events
                        Full Idea: There are no strict psychophysical laws (that is, laws connecting mental events under their mental descriptions with physical events under their physical descriptions).
                        From: Donald Davidson (Davidson on himself [1994], p.231)
                        A reaction: This is clearly open to question. It may be just that no human mind could ever grasp such laws, given their probable complexity.
17. Mind and Body / D. Property Dualism / 3. Property Dualism
The correct conclusion is ontological monism combined with conceptual dualism
                        Full Idea: My basic premises lead to the conclusion of ontological monism coupled with conceptual dualism (like Spinoza, except that he denied mental causation).
                        From: Donald Davidson (Davidson on himself [1994], p.231)
                        A reaction: 'Conceptual dualism' implies no real difference, but 'property dualism' is better, suggesting different properties when viewed from different angles.
18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 5. Rationality / a. Rationality
Absence of all rationality would be absence of thought
                        Full Idea: To imagine a totally irrational animal is to imagine an animal without thought.
                        From: Donald Davidson (Davidson on himself [1994], p.232)
                        A reaction: This wouldn't be so clear without the theory of evolution, which suggests that only the finders of truth last long enough to breed.
18. Thought / C. Content / 6. Broad Content
Our meanings are partly fixed by events of which we may be ignorant
                        Full Idea: What we mean by what we say is partly fixed by events of which we may be ignorant.
                        From: Donald Davidson (Davidson on himself [1994], p.235)
                        A reaction: There is 'strict and literal meaning', which is fixed by the words, even if I don't know what I am saying. But 'speaker's meaning' is surely a pure matter of a state of mind?
19. Language / D. Propositions / 6. Propositions Critique
Propositions explain nothing without an explanation of how sentences manage to name them
                        Full Idea: The idea of a proposition is unhelpful, until it is explained how exactly the words in the contained sentence manage to name or describe a proposition (which even Frege failed to achieve).
                        From: Donald Davidson (Davidson on himself [1994], p.232)
                        A reaction: It seems obvious to me that there are brain events best labelled as propositions, even if their fit with language is puzzling.
19. Language / F. Communication / 4. Private Language
Thought is only fully developed if we communicate with others
                        Full Idea: We would have no fully-fledge thoughts if we were not in communication with others.
                        From: Donald Davidson (Davidson on himself [1994], 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?
19. Language / F. Communication / 6. Interpreting Language / c. Principle of charity
There is simply no alternative to the 'principle of charity' in interpreting what others do
                        Full Idea: The 'principle of charity' is a misleading term, since there is no alternative if we want to make sense of the attitudes and actions of the agents around us.
                        From: Donald Davidson (Davidson on himself [1994], p.233)
                        A reaction: I suppose so, but only with a background of evolutionary theory. I would necessarily assume charity if a robot spoke to me.
25. Social Practice / E. Policies / 5. Education / c. Teaching
Without a teacher, the concept of 'getting things right or wrong' is meaningless
                        Full Idea: Without a 'teacher', nothing would give content to the idea that there is a difference between getting things right and getting them wrong.
                        From: Donald Davidson (Davidson on himself [1994], p.234)
                        A reaction: Seems right. A group of speculators with no one in the role of 'teacher' would seem to be paralysed with uncertain (except where judgements are very obvious).
26. Natural Theory / C. Causation / 9. General Causation / b. Nomological causation
Cause and effect relations between events must follow strict laws
                        Full Idea: If two events are related as cause and effect, there is a strict law under which they may be subsumed.
                        From: Donald Davidson (Davidson on himself [1994], p.231)
                        A reaction: Davidson admits that this is open to challenge (though Hume and Kant supported it). It does seem to be central to our understanding of nature.