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Donald Davidson$
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Ernie Lepore and Kirk Ludwig

Print publication date: 2005

Print ISBN-13: 9780199251346

Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: July 2005

DOI: 10.1093/0199251347.001.0001

Externalism and the Impossibility of Massive Error 239

Chapter:
(p. 322 ) 19 Externalism and the Impossibility of Massive Error 239
Source:
Donald Davidson
Author(s):

Ernie Lepore (Contributor Webpage)

Kirk Ludwig (Contributor Webpage)

Publisher:
Oxford University Press
DOI:10.1093/0199251347.003.0021

Discusses Davidson’s arguments against the impossibility of massive error and for externalism about thought content. Two main arguments are distinguished, the omniscient interpreter argument and the argument from the Principle of Charity. The omniscient interpreter argument is criticized, but it is argued that the argument from the Principle of Charity is the more fundamental of the two arguments. This argument is shown to rely on a strong assumption about the publicity of language, which we argue is not supported by reflection on the social function of language.

Keywords:   argument from Charity, impossibility of massive error, omniscient interpreter argument, publicity of language

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