SAMESAYING, PROPOSITIONS AND RADICAL INTERPRETATION Gary Kemp Abstract Davidson’s paratactic account of indirect quotation preserves the apparent relational structure of indirect speech but without assum- ing, in the Fregean manner, that the thing said by a sayer is a proposition. I argue that this is a mistake. As has been recognised by some critics, Davidson’s account suffers from analytical short- comings which can be overcome by redeploying the paratactic strategy as a means of referring to propositions. I offer a quick and comprehensive survey of these difficulties and a concise proposi- tional solution. Further, I argue that Davidson’s more general philosophical commitments provide no reason not to embrace the propositional strategy: despite appearances, to invoke propositions in the way suggested is consistent with Davidson’s holism and consequent doctrine of semantic indeterminacy. 1 The virtues of Davidson’s account of indirect quotation – the paratactic account henceforth – are considerable, and well-known. 1 Most centrally, the account admits of systematic incorporation into a Tarskian truth-theory for a natural language, thereby satis- fying the requirements of compositionality. But it is also well- known that the account suffers from a number of local analytical deficiencies. In this paper, I discuss these, and argue that they can be overcome by exploiting the paratactic strategy as a means of invoking propositions in the analysis of indirect speech and propo- sitional attitudes. Further, I shall argue that Davidsonians can do this without compromising their basic philosophical commitments. This may come as a surprise. For those who take the Davidsonian programme seriously – in all its philosophical motivations and ramifications – there is on the face of it ample reason to hold out against propositions at all costs. First, there is what I shall call the 1 Davidson presents and defends the account in ‘On Saying That’; see also ‘Moods and Performatives’ pp. 118–119, both in Davidson (1984). Except where otherwise indicated, all references to Davidson’s papers are to this volume.  Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2001, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. Ratio (new series) XIV 2 June 2001 0034–0006