A Derangement of Arguments: Do Conventionalists Have Glory?

Abstract In “A Nice Derangement of Epitaphs,” Donald Davidson argues against the view that conventions fix the meanings of our words and for the position that a speaker’s intentions play a fundamental role in fixing what she means by her words. However, he is clear that he still holds to the externalism, holism, and literalism argued for earlier in his career. Lepore and Stone ( Philosophical Perspectives , 31, 245–265, 2017) and Camp ( Inquiry , 59, 113–138, 2016) suggest that the resulting picture is contradictory. In this article, I take up Lepore, Stone, and Camp’s arguments to clarify Davidson’s position and motivate an anti-conventional literalism about meaning.