Davidson Reasonable Theory Study

There is a long history for the inquiries into rationality in western philosophy. As one of the key concepts, the inquiry into rationality plays an important role in Davidson's philosophy; his theory of rationality is rich, integrity and distinctive, as well as have close connections with his philosophy of language, psychology of philosophy and theory of action etc., and it constitute a necessary portion in his integral philosophy. He regards rationality as a basic concept and methodological principle, and embedded it in his overall philosophical study. This dissertation present an interpretation of Davidson's theory of rationality from the perspectives of"rationality-rational-rationalization","subjectivity-intersubjectivity-objectivity", and"language-mind-world"as three theoretical framework as follow, as well as giving some critical comments: (1) subjective conditions of rationality; (2) norms or standards of rationality; (3) external requirements of rationality; (4) theory of rationalization; (5) theory of value from the rational point of view; (6 ) theory of irrationality. Chapter I focus on the theoretical backgrounds, ideological origins and main contents of Davidson's concept of rationality. Its backgrounds mainly lie in"classic model"of rationality; besides other origins, its main origin is Bayesian behavioral decision theory; the subjective conditions lie in rational beings is having propositional attitudes, capable of thinking, language and evaluation, thus they excluding non-rational animals; rationality have some strong logical characteristics, internal coherence of belief and logical consistency of action are the two main norms of rationality,"the requirement of total evidence for inductive reasoning"and"all-things-considered judgments"(ATC) etc., as supplements for two main norms; his basic attitudes on rationality shouldn't be neglected; his"Unified Theory"as a"science of rationality", is based on rationality.Chapter II focus on implication of norms of rationality in linguistic understanding and interpersonal communication, as well as its external requirements. His critics on the traditional view of language and relativism of conceptual schemes, emphasis the importance of rationality on linguistic understanding and interpersonal communication from the negative point of view; his exploring on the relationship between language, thought and rationality also worth noting; there are some multiple relationship between rationality and the various basic principles of radical interpretation; elucidation of the concepts of original truth,"sharing"and"tripod"or"triangulation"as the external requirements of rationality, emphasis the significant basis of rationality in his theory of meaning from the positive point of view; rationality and original truth are tow basic concepts in his radical interpretation, rationality depends on original truth, and it provides constraints to original truth on the contrary; rationality and intelligibility are the two fundamental concepts of interpersonal communication.Chapter III illustrating the application of norms of rationality to his theory of action and"rationalization", its main contents as follow: discussing the relationship between basic concepts of philosophy of action such as agency, causality, intentionality and rationality; explanation of action should follow instructions of holism, rationality and principle of charity as its fundamental methodology; the relationship between teleological explanation, reason explanation, causal explanation and the problem of rationalization, as well as the basic role of rationality in practical reasoning and the problems of free will.Chapter IV discussing Davidson's theory of value from the perspective of rationality as follow: justification of evaluative judgments; radical interpretation and behavioral decision theory which based on the principles of rationality is the methodology of evaluation; belief, desire and meaning in the field of value are three basic intentional aspects of rationality; the theory of value which based on"desirability", regards the consistency of belief and desire as the fundamental conditions of evaluation; interpersonal comparison which based on assignment of propositional attitudes, which makes the understanding of evaluative judgments possible, whereas interpersonal comparison of evaluation presupposed common norms of rationality.Chapter V analyzing irrationality as"a failure within the house of reason", which is the most influential portion in Davison's theory of rationality. He dealing with the nature of irrationality, the relationship between incoherence, inconsistence and irrationality, as well as\ the problems of"paradoxes of irrationality"from an unique perspective; discussing akrasia which violates the principles of practical rationality, and his proposal based on causal explanation of action, as well as analyzing self-deception and its distinction with"weakness of the warrant"and"wishful thinking", etc., exploring its roots, and give some critical comments on his solutions on self-deception finally. The conclusion present an outlook of Davidson's theory of rationality related to some contemporary theories.