The Role of Convention in Language: Donald Davidson's and Jean-Luc Nancy's Conceptions of Communication and Community Public
Gleitman, Michal (2012)
Published
Abstract
This dissertation asks whether and to what extent linguistic
meaning is conventional. By
combining Davidson's theory of meaning with Nancy's conception of
community it
develops a model of communication in which the meaning of words is
not determined by
a fixed set of norms, but is constantly negotiated through a
multiplicity of concrete
communicative events. By presenting linguistic norms as fluid and
contested, the
dissertation undercuts the idea that linguistic communities are
unified in the way that the
idea of convention suggests, thus exposing the extent to which the
boundaries of
linguistic communities are subject to constant political and
cultural negotiation.
Chapters 1 and 2 present Davidson's and Nancy's position
that language is nothing but
a pattern of relations between the observable behaviors and
practices of speakers and
interpreters. Accordingly, the set of conventions we call
"language" is supervenient upon
actual occasions of interpretation, and is only a part of the
variety of means we employ in
order to interpret one another and ascribe meaning to utterances.
So while shared
linguistic norms are often employed in interpretation, they are not
a precondition of
communicative success.
Chapters 3 and 4 argue that if conventions are secondary
to actual interpretation, then
the interpreter's first task is to determine what constitutes
linguistic behavior, i.e. when a
pattern of behavior justifies the attribution of intentions to a
creature. The question of
"speakerhood," of what makes one take another being to be a
creature whose behavior is
potentially meaningful and warrants interpretation, thus emerges as
a crucial issue. It is
argued that "speakerhood" cannot be reduced to a biological or
cognitive fact, but is
subject to constant social negotiation, which is concealed by
linguistic norms that reify
meaning and make the answer to the question "what and who is
meaningful?" seem more
settled than it is.
By posing the question of nonhumans' participation in
communication, chapter 5 calls
attention to the need to articulate and examine the various
constraints that can prevent a
creature (whether human or not) from being considered a speaker,
and thus receiving a
fair opportunity to participate in a linguistic
community.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................................
1
Chapter 1. From Communication to Community: Davidson's theory of
language and
interpretation
.................................................................................................................................8
Radical interpretation
...................................................................................................................
9
The role of convention in communication
.................................................................................
17
Is there such a thing as a language ?
.........................................................................................
24
Community without convention
.................................................................................................
41
Chapter 2. From Community to Communication: Nancy's
critique of the modern subject
and community
.............................................................................................................................49
The modern subject and community
..........................................................................................
49
Nancy's notion of the subject as a singular
................................................................................
57
Nancy's notion of community as being-in-common
..................................................................
67
Nancy's notion of communication
.............................................................................................
74
Chapter 3. Charity and the Question of "Speakerhood:" The
role of charity in Davidson's
model of communication without language
...............................................................................
84
The principle of charity as a precondition of interpretation
....................................................... 85
Charity as a principle of speakerhood
........................................................................................
94
Mistakes and the limit of charity
..............................................................................................
103
Chapter 4. Nancy's Politics of Sense: The ethical
implications of "unconventional"
communication
...........................................................................................................................114
Nancy's rejection of signification, metaphysics and deconstruction
....................................... 115
"Being-with" as the locus of meaning
.....................................................................................
127
Charity and the ethics of making sense
....................................................................................
139
Chapter 5. Humans and Other Animals: Liminal speakers and
the boundaries of the
interpretive community
.............................................................................................................
148
Davidson's argument against animal rationality
......................................................................
150
Nancy on animal language
.......................................................................................................
159
Triangulation and Community
.................................................................................................
170
Conclusion
..................................................................................................................................183
Bibliography
...............................................................................................................................
189
- Distribution Agreement.pdf
- Approval Sheet
- Abstract cover page
- Abstract
- Dissertation-cover page
- Table of Contents
- Dissertation-text _final_
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