Problems with Fodor’s and Lepore’s criticism of semantic holism

The purpose of this article is to examine the criticisms made by Fodor and Lepore in Holism: a shopper's guide to the holistic theory proposed by Donald Davidson. To do so, first, we will present the Davidsonian theory and three of the criticisms made by Fodor and Lepore: (1) compositionality is necessary to avoid W-statements; (2) the epistemological condition of a radical interpreter is problematic; (3) The principle of charity has no use in the theory of meaning, so a holistic conclusion of this principle cannot be derived. Then, after clarifying the criticisms of Fodor and Lepore, we argue why they do not have a strong foundation and point out some problems that remain to be solved.