Donald Herbert Davidson was born on March 6, 1917. After spending his childhood
in Springfield, Massachusetts, Donald journeyed to Harvard University to
pursue further education. Donald found much interest in classical literature,
taking much influence from A. N. Whitehead, but soon shifted towards a
degree in classical philosophy, which he was ultimately granted in 1941.
Upon receiving his Master’s degree, though, his country called for his
services, and he spent the following three years (1942-1945) in the Mediterranean
with the US Navy. Once he returned, Donald resumed his studies and pursued
his PHD, which he was granted in 1949. Davidson spent the early part of
his career studying the processes of the human decision. His first official
position came from Queens College of New York, but Davidson soon moved
on to better things at Stanford University, where he spent 16 years continuing
his research. His first series of publications attempted to defy the Wittgensteinian
orthodoxy by considering rationality and reason to be an explanation of
human actions. Davidson, in a flurry of explanations, demonstrated the
connections between rationality and action, showing their connection to
be both rational and at the same time casual.
In 1967, Davidson moved to Princeton University,
where he released the paper The Anomalism of the Mental, which contained three principals that
Davidson has been well-known for: The principle of Casual Interaction,
The Principal of the Nomological Character or Causality, and The Anomalism
of the Mental. These principals worked to further explain the connections
between reasons, actions, and causes. Davidson went on in this paper to
deny the existence of any strict ‘psycho-physical’ laws, believing that
separate laws and rules must be made for physical principals, such as actions,
and mental principals, such as rational thought.
After leaving Princeton in 1970, Davidson moved between several different Universities, working under Rockefeller (1970-1976), the University of Chicago (1976-1981), and the University of California, Berkeley (1981-2003). He released several more papers, most notably a 1994 piece that defined thought as a triangular connection between two separate yet similar rational minds, and an object or action that they are both simultaneously thinking about. Davidson went on to use this triangulation theory to prove that thought would not be possible without at least two minds capable of holding the same thought.
As a result of a complication following a routine knee surgery, Davidson
went into cardiac arrest and died on August 27, 2003, at the age of 86.
He left behind several unfinished works. Davidson produced many publications
throughout his career including (but by no means limited to): Decision
Making: An experimental Approach, The Anomalism of the Mental, Thinking
Causes, Laws and Cause, How is Weakness of the Will Possible?, and
Two Paradoxes of Irrationality.
References:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/davidson/
http://www.sylloge.com/davidson_interview.html
Written by: Students in an Introduction to Anthropology Class, Minnesota
State University, Mankato, Minnesota