戴維森論思想和語言

Davidson on Thought and Language

10.7015/JEAS.202409_54(3).0001

李蕙容(Huei-Rong Li)

戴維森 ； 思想 ； 語言 ； 詮釋 ； 整體論 ； Davidson ； thought ； language ； interpretation ； holism

歐美研究

54卷3期（2024 / 09 / 01）

387 - 431

繁體中文;英文

思想和語言之間有著怎樣的關係？這篇文章考慮戴維森的主張：思想和語言相互依賴。一方面，語言依賴於思想。語言作為溝通的一個工具，用來表達思想，沒有思想不算有語言。另一方面，思想依賴於語言。我們使用語言來思考，沒有語言就沒有思想。儘管就人類來說，思想和語言密切相關，但是，有些沒有語言的動物被認為有思想，如果沒有語言而有思想是可能的，那麼思想未必要求語言。我認為戴維森是對的，思想依賴於語言。這篇文章梳理戴維森用來支持思想依賴於語言的論證，並反駁可能使這個主張站不住腳的一些觀點。

How is thought connected to language? It is widely accepted that language depends on thought. Without thought, having a language is impossible. But whether it is possible to think without language is debatable. This essay aims to defend Donald Davidson's claim that thought and language depend on each other, with a particular focus on the thesis that thought depends on language. Humans are animals with language. For human beings, thought and language go hand-in-hand. Some non-linguistic animals, however, are thought to possess the ability to think, which suggests that thought does not need to be inextricably intertwined with language. To show why thought requires language, this essay teases out Davidson's arguments in favor of the proposition and rebuts positions commonly taken as making it untenable.