A Studying Of Davidson's Theory Of Meaning

This thesis provided a clue about Davidson's theory of meaning, it included three chapters. The first chapter was the logical starting point of this paper, it illustrated two issues: First, it explained the reason for appropriate Davidson's theory of meaning; second, it spelled out the Tarski's definition of truth. These issues were leading knowledge on Davidson's theory of meaning. The second chapter was the main part of the thesis and deepened the first chapter. This chapter included three parts: How the Tarski's definition of truth constituted Davidson's theory of meaning; What the demand of the Davidson's theory of meaning; in addition, it pointed out two difficulties of Davidson's theory of meaning; it illustrated relationship between radical interpretation and meaning, it also illustrated the requirements of Davidson's theory of meaning and indicated the important contribution to Davidson's theory of meaning. We clarified"hold true"as a starting point for the radical interpretation, it played an important role in radical interpretation; Finally, we took Davidson's theory of action and decision theory as a background of knowledge about radical interpretation, we pointed out the important relationships about Davidson's theory of action﹑ decision theory and radical interpretation. The third chapter included controversies on Davidson's theory of meaning and some response from Davidson. In order to clarify Davidson's theory of meaning, we dealt with these controversies in one chapter. We chose three philosophers: Putnam﹑ Dummett and Susan·Haack, their criticism were disruptive. On the background, the Davidson's theory of meaning and the characteristics of current development on meaning theories can be highlighted. The last part was the brief evaluation on Davidson's theory of meaning. It was comprehensive description of the characteristics of Davidson's theory of meaning﹑ academic status and its instructiveness.