Problems with Adverbial Modification and the Existence of Actions and Related Events

フクシテキ シュウショクゴ オ メグル モンダイ ト コウイ オヨビ カンレンスル デキゴト ノ ソンザイ

オオサカ ダイガク ニンゲン カガクブ シャカイガク ニンゲンガク ジンルイガク ケンキュウシツ

英語

D.デイヴィドソン

行為

出来事

adverbs

adverbials

Donald Davidson

actions

events

Many puzzles have been raised regarding Donald Davidson's theory of adverbial modification from the time it was introduced in the 1960's. Though individually proposed, more than a few of these puzzles suggest the more comprehensive dependence of adverbials upon verbs (descriptions of events) than Davidson assumed. If this suggestion were correct, it would be a serious threat to Davidson's theory , since the basic idea of adverbials as predicates of such entities as actions or events would be undermined . However, the conclusion of this paper is that Davidson's basic idea is tenable. The path to the conclusion is not straightforward. In this paper, I will defend the conclusion by considering the transitivity of actions , analysing so-called 'conventional actions' and adverbials containing 'with' (e.g. 'with the gun') , and thereby refining Davidson's original formalization of action (event) sentences.

英語