Meaning and explanation: Davidson on metaphor and malaprops

I consider why it is useful to appeal to the notion of word meaning when explaining how we understand one another on the basis of our words. Several articles by Donald Davidson serve as points of departure.;In "What Metaphors Mean," Davidson distinguishes between literal meaning and metaphorical meaning of words. He maintains the notion of literal meaning is explanatory, yet the notion of metaphorical meaning is not. Initially, he justifies this distinction by claiming literal meaning can be assigned to words apart from particular contexts of use, whereas metaphorical meaning can not.;This justification is inadequate, however, in light of Davidson's later treatment of malaprops, in "A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs." Malaprops occur when a speaker mistakes one word or phrase for a word or phrase resembling it. In many such cases, the speaker succeeds in communicating her intended message, despite the error. To explain this phenomenon, Davidson maintains the word uttered malapropically acquires a new, literal meaning on the occasion of utterance. I argue, in some cases, this new, literal meaning can not be assigned apart from the particular context of use. Hence, it is not true that, in all cases, literal meaning can be assigned to words apart from particular contexts of use.;Some malaprops resemble some metaphors, then, in that they are not understood simply by appeal to meanings which can be assigned to words apart from the particular context in which they are uttered. Yet Davidson accounts for our understanding of metaphors and our understanding of malaprops in a radically different ways.;I conclude by sketching a justification for this asymmetric treatment of metaphors and malaprops. Appealing to literal meaning is explanatory of how a speaker is to be understood, even in cases of malapropic utterances, because it involves relating the speaker to her community and her history, using linguistic and conceptual resources which are already widely available throughout the speech community. Understanding a metaphor, however, is a creative endeavor, one which requires conceptual innovation on the part of the metaphor maker, as well as the interpreter.