Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

Prerequisites

It is recommended that students take one philosophy subject before taking this course.

Course Overview

This course explores the nature of meaning and truth, and their bearing on the use of language in communication. No knowledge of logic or linguistics is presupposed.

Textbooks

Buy at Amazon Lycan, William G. Philosophy of Language: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy). 2nd ed. Routledge, 2008. ISBN: 9780415957526. 

Buy at Amazon Martinich, Aloysius P., ed. The Philosophy of Language. 5th ed. Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780195188301.

Grading

ACTIVITIES PERCENTAGES
Short exercises (3 pages x 2) 10%
Oral presentation 10%
1st paper (8 pages) 25%
1st paper revision 10%
2nd paper (8 pages) 35%
Verbal participation 10%

Calendar

LEC # TOPICS KEY DATES
1 Introduction  
2 Meaning and reference  
3 Descriptions  
4 Names and descriptions  
5 Direct reference Exercise 1 due
6 What is meaning?  
7 Empiricist theories  
8 Psychological theories  
9 Truth-conditional theories  
10 Context sensitivity First paper due
11 The essential indexical  
12 The Kripkenstein paradox  
13 Naturalistic reduction  
14 Speech acts  
15 Illocutionary force  
16 Presupposition  
17 Assertion  
18 Implicature  
19 Attitudes, the hidden indexical theory  
20 Attitudes, the implicature theory Exercise 2 due
21 Attitudes, the pragmatic theory  
22 Non-literal speech  
23 Making believe  
24 Semantic pretense and attitude ascriptions  
25 Pragmatic pretense and Frege problems  
26 Humpty Dumpty, malaprop, etc. Second paper due