ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that interpretation is the practical knowledge by which the authors establish and maintain relationships to others in dialogue or conversation. Interpretations then can be judged in terms of their capacity to promote or inhibit such relations, primarily by mutual interpretation in dialogue. The current debate in the philosophy of mind between simulation theorists and theory theorists concerns precisely the nature of this implicit knowledge used in understanding. As in the case of simulation theory, Davidson wants to use his ability-based account of what speakers do in interpretation to trim the proliferation of transcendental arguments for the knowledge necessary for interpretation down to its most minimal form. To the extents that the constraints can be made explicit and the violations of interpretive norms shown to be incorrect according to the relevant normative attitudes, interpretation can be epistemically improved by dialogue.
