Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses Donald Davidson who is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century. The book divides into part two parts. In first part, Claudine Verheggen begins by providing an explanation and defense of the triangulation argument, and then explores its implications for questions concerning semantic normativity and reductionism, the social character of language and thought, and skepticism about the external world. Contra many commentators, Verheggen argues that Davidson's semantic externalism has always been historical and holistic, in addition to having always been non-reductionist and non-conventionalist. In second part, Robert Myers considers what the argument can tell us about reasons for action, and whether it can overcome skeptical worries based on claims about the nature of motivation, the sources of normativity, and the demands of morality.