Lexicon of Arguments

 

IV 79
Transcendental/argument/Davidson/Fodor/Lepore: Davidson's transcendental argument for the principle of charity takes this form: if we do not assume that the speaker rightly believes most things, then language acquisition by the radical interpreter is impossible. >Radical interpretation, >Language acquisition.
IV 80
Language acquisition is possible, however. So it must be assumed that most of the speaker's beliefs are true. >Beliefs/Davidson.
Fodor/LeporeVsDavidson: there is no clear reason to believe the second premise (that radical interpretation is possible). Therefore, the transcendental argument fails.
IV 105
Transcendental: what made the arguments transcendental was the assumption that radical interpretation is metaphysically impossible if holism does not apply. >Holism.
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Kripke I 46
Metaphysical/Kripke: what could have been different is precisely a question that cannot be answered empirically at all, hence it is metaphysical. Contrary: epistemic.