
AbstractAccording to Donald Davidson, “what a fully informed interpreter could learn about what a speaker means is all there is to learn; the same goes for what the speaker believes” (Davidson 1983). This is a foundational claim about the nature of semantic properties: these are evidence-constituted properties. They are determined by the principle of charity on the basis of data about the behaviour of the speaker(s). But what exactly is the role of the interpreter in the Davidsonian account of meaning determination? Is she merely a dramatic device or an essential element of the metaphysical picture? This chapter investigates whether David Lewis’s (1983) distinction between natural and unnatural properties can help in answering these questions.
foundational semantics, Philosophy, Filosofi, principle of charity, Donald Davidson, interpretationism, David Lewis, radical interpretation
foundational semantics, Philosophy, Filosofi, principle of charity, Donald Davidson, interpretationism, David Lewis, radical interpretation
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