Rorty, Davidson, and Metaphor

In his essay "What Metaphors Mean," Donald Davidson gave a striking view of metaphor, claiming that metaphorical utterances have no meaning beyond the literal meanings of the words contained in them. Richard Rorty claims that this view of metaphor can be used to argue that cultural, moral, and scientific change (all products of metaphor) are contingent. I will argue that Davidson's view of metaphor is not consistent with Davidson's overall principles of theory construction, and, hence, is not consistent with his theory of linguistic meaning. Furthermore, I will argue that Rorty himself has significantly misinterpreted Davidson's theory of metaphor.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Philosophy

Department dc:contributor.department

Philosophy

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Mulberry, Greig R.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Christman, John P.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Hardcastle, Gary L.
• Pitt, Joseph C.

• Metaphor
• Meaning
• Davidson
• Rorty

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-8597-111048

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/9775