Triangulation, Thought, and Communication.

This project focuses on Donald Davidsons thesis of triangulation and the principle of charity (PC). Briefly, triangulation is the thesis that a triangular situation which consists of two interacting creatures and a shared focus in the external world is a necessary condition of thought; PC says that the interpreter has to assume that the speakers beliefs are, generally, consistent and true from the interpreters view. This project consists of three parts: first, I will attempt to clarify the thesis of triangulation and, in order to defend it against recent attacks, to modify it if necessary; second, drawing on recent studies on joint attention and first language acquisition of infants, I will try to formulate a more primitive form of PC, hoping to further justify Davidsons PC and triangulation, and to shed light on the emergence of thought; third, I will consider some implications of PC and triangulation on two other philosophical debates, namely, the debate of the norm of assertion, and the debate as to whether ancient Chinese philosophers had the semantic concept of truth of sentences.