Donald Davidson’s Place in the History of Pragmatism

Abstract

This paper explores the place of Donald Davidson in the pragmatist tradition. Pragmatists, from C.S. Peirce to C.I. Lewis to W.V. Quine, have dismantled the dogmas of empiricism (the analytic-synthetic distinction and reductionism) and replaced them with better, pragmatist structures. Davidson’s taking on the third dogma of empiricism – the distinction between scheme and content – returns pragmatism to the excellent initial expression of it given by its founder, Peirce.