Reid's Principle of Credulity as a Principle of Charity

What is it about?

Reid's principle of credulity may be interpreted as equivalent to a principle of charity, due to the nature of three beliefs it implies concerning the interlocutors, which are held by the person who attempts to acquire their language: (1) They are telling truth in the sense that they are saying what they really think, perceive, feel, believe; (2) they are veracious in the sense that what they say is objectively true; (3) they use language consistently.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

The paper shows that Reid foreurn by some two-hundred years celebrated contemporary philosophers such as Quine and Davidson by advancing a version of a principle of charity.