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philosophy of language course
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V83.0085-001 overview:
This
course will focus on the central questions in the philosophy of
language. The
two central themes will be meaning and reference. We will explore
questions
like: What is it for a person to mean something by uttering a sentence?
What is
it for that sentence to mean something? How can ink on a page or sounds
emitted
from our throats refer to things in the outside world? We will also
investigate
the profound influence the philosophy of language has had on
contemporary
philosophy. time:
Tuesdays
& Thursdays 11:00-12:15 place:
Room
567, Waverly Building, 24 Waverly Place website:
http://homepages.nyu.edu/~mjr318/language08/
instructor:
Mike
Raven (raven@nyu.edu) office:
Room
607, Department of Philosophy,
5 Washington Place office
hours:
Tuesdays & Thursdays 12:30-1:30, or
by appointment. work: Two
paper assignment and an exam. The instructions for the first paper
assignment are here.
The instructions for the second paper assignment are here.
The exam will be
10:00am-11:50am
on Tuesday Dec. 16. A study
guide for the exam is here.
A review session will be held in 504 Silver Center, 5:00pm-6:00pm on
Thursday Dec. 11. late
policy:
No late
work; no exceptions. evaluation:
You
pass the course only if you do the required work and participate in
class
discussion. You will be evaluated on participation, the exam, and the
papers. required
text:
The
Philosophy of Language, 5th ed., edited by A. P.
Martinich (m)
Any
readings not in the text will be distributed as handouts in class.
Discussion
notes will be made available on the course website after the class of
which
they are about has concluded. optional
text:
Philosophy
of Language: A Contemporary Introduction, by William G. Lycan.
No
readings will be assigned from this optional text. But you may find it
to be a
useful supplement to the assigned readings. readings:
The
course is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the nature
of
meaning. The second part focuses on the nature of reference.
The
readings for each part are listed below. The list is ambitious.
Moreover, work
in the philosophy of language tends to be difficult. We will try to
stick to a
schedule, but will be flexible enough to allow our comprehension of the
material dictate the pace. As a result, the precise schedule for what
to read
when will be announced as we go. But the following list gives the order
of the
readings and a rough estimate of how much time will be spent on each.
Part I: The nature of meaning. What is it for a linguistic expression to be meaningful? We will survey several answers. Two kinds of answer will emerge. We will assess their compatibility. Introduction:
meaning (1 week) Frege, “The Thought: A Logical Inquiry” (m1)
[notes] Verificationist
theories of meaning, analyticity, and translation (2 weeks) Ayer, Chapter 1 of Language, Truth, and
Logic (Handout) [notes] Quine, “Two Dogmas of Empiricism” (m3)
[notes] Quine, §§7-9,12 of “Translation and
Meaning” (m38) [notes] Truth-conditional
theories of meaning (1 week) Tarski, §§1-5,17-18 of “The Semantic
Conception of
Truth and the Foundations of Semantics” (m5) [notes]
Davidson, “Truth and Meaning” (m7)
[notes] Intention-based
theories of meaning and speech acts (2 weeks) Grice, “Meaning”
(m6)
[notes] Searle, "What
is a Speech Act?" (HANDOUT) [notes] Grice, “Logic and Conversation” (m11)
[notes] Use-theories
of meaning (1 week) Kripke, “On Rules and Private Language” (m43)
[notes] Lewis, “Languages and Language” (m45)
[notes] Part II: The nature of reference. How can we use language to refer to things in the world? We will explore this general question by focusing on a few particular ways language enables us to do so. Introduction: reference (1 week)Frege, “On Sense and Nominatum” (m14)
[notes] Definite
descriptions (2 weeks) Russell, “On Denoting”
(m15)
[notes] Strawson, “On Referring”
(m17)
[notes] Donnellan, “Reference and Definite
Descriptions” (m19) [notes] Proper
names
(1 week) Kripke, Naming and Necessity (m21)
[notes] Natural
kind terms (1 week) Putnam, “Meaning and Reference” (m22) Indexicals
(1 week) Perry, “The Problem of the Essential
Indexical” (m27) Beliefs
and
belief-reports (1 week) Kripke, “A Puzzle about Belief” (m32)
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