Donald Herbert Davidson (March 6, 1917 – August 30, 2003) was an
American philosopher who was "one of the greatest philosophers of the late 20th century." He served as Slusser Professor of Philosophy at the
University of California, Berkeley from 1981 to 2003 after having also held teaching appointments at
Stanford University,
Rockefeller University,
Princeton University, and the
University of Chicago. Davidson was known for his charismatic personality and the depth and difficulty of his thought. His work exerted considerable influence in many areas of philosophy from the 1960s onward, particularly in
philosophy of mind,
philosophy of language, and
action theory. While Davidson was an
analytic philosopher, and most of his influence lies in that tradition, his work has attracted attention in
continental philosophy as well, particularly in
literary theory and related areas.