"Idiolect and Context"

In this paper I will compare some of Dummett and Davidson’s claims on the problem of communication and idiolects: how can we understand each other if we use different idiolects? First I define the problem, giving the alternative theses of (I) the priority of language over idiolects and (II) the priority of idiolects over language. I then present Dummett's claims supporting (I) and Davidson's claims supporting (II). In the first three paragraphs, I will provide a reconstruction of the debate between Dummett and Davidson, showing some weaknesses in both programs. In the remaining two paragraphs, I will work on the concept of “convergence”. I will try to show that the process of convergence, which is basic in Davidson’s theory, needs a level of (formal) analysis of what I call “contextual competence”. The main point of the paper is to show a blindspot in Davidson and Dummett, and to fill the gap. In short, to explain communication, Dummett asks for too much sharing among speakers, and Davidson asks for too little. Even if proposed, for the sake of argument, as a possible supplementation of Davidson’s idea of convergence, the suggestion of contextual competence may be used as an extension of Dummett’s molecularism