Belief, Truth and the Enigma of Error

What are the basic conditions for knowledge? What §are the prerequisites for understanding other human §beings? What are the conditions for emergence of §beliefs that can be true or false? Mariann Solberg §discusses problems related to the American §philosopher Donald Davidson's (1917-2003) views on §belief, truth and error. Solbergs takes Davidson's §thinking on these questions to be a version of §naturalized philosophy. The possibility of error is §a premise for a theory of linguistically formed §knowledge. The book inquires to what extent we §within the Davidsonian model of radical §interpretation can give an account of error. The §problem of explaining how error is possible has over §time come to seem close to an enigma. Davidson has §taken it that if we can explain error, we can §explain intentionality. An explanation of §intentionality would also be an explanation of the §phenomenon of normativity. A solution to the problem §of error would therefore be of great interest and §have rich consequences. On a metaphilosophical level §the analysis of Davidson s theory is employed to §test the potential of a naturalized philosophical §account of intentionality.