Abstract

There is a popular idea that a shift from a Principle of Charity to a Principle of Humanity, as famously advocated by Richard Grandy, offers considerable advantages in constructing theories of meaning for natural languages. My claim is that Grandy’s case for the superiority of the Principle of Humanity does not tell against the Principle of Charity developed by Donald Davidson. The paper outlines important developments in Davidson’s Principle of Charity, and his refinement of the Principle of Charity that he found in Quine’s writings. I argue that Grandy’s criticisms, whilst sound against the Quinean principle he had in mind, do not extend to Davidson’s refined Principle of Charity. I then raise two further issues that face advocates of the Principle of Humanity as an improvement on Davidson’s Principle of Charity.