PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE Department of Philosophy, UT, Austin Phil 332, Spring 2013 Unique Number 42755 T/TH: 9:30 - 11:00 SZB, Room 240

INSTRUCTOR Lawrence Ray Buchanan E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (512) 471-7396 Office: Waggener Hall 4th Floor Room # 416B Office hours: Tuesdays 11:30 – 12:30

COURSE SUMMARY The course focuses on various philosophical issues concerning language. Topics to be discussed include, but are not limited to, the following: speaker-meaning, conversational implicature, sentence/expression-meaning, reference, modality, and propositional attitude ascriptions.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS Assignments: • Two 6-7 page papers on topics selected from a list of prompts given by instructor. The first of these papers will be worth 20% of the student’s final grade for the course; the second will be worth 25% of the grade for the course. • One in-class midterm worth 25% of the student’s final grade. • A take-home final exam worth 25% of the grade. • Class participation and attendance (5%).

Regarding the *participation* component of your grade: I expect regular attendance and participation in our course. Moreover, I expect you to have read the material for lecture carefully in advance. However, should my expectations on either front fail to be met, I reserve the right to assign (short) in-class written assignments regarding the required reading for the day that will then be counted towards the participation component of your grade.

Late work: I do not accept work after the due date without a valid documented excuse.

Please Note: One of the principal aims of this course is to give students experience with writing in an academic discipline. In this class, you can expect to write regularly during the semester, complete substantial writing projects, and receive feedback from me to help you improve your writing. You should therefore expect your grade for the course to determined almost entirely by your performance in your written work.

UT HONOR CODE “The core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the university is

1 expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and respect toward peers and community.”

COURSE MATERIALS Required texts: Readings in the Philosophy of Language (Bradford Books) edited by Peter Ludlow.

Note: additional required readings will be posted on the course Blackboard site.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF TOPICS/READINGS The following schedule is extremely ambitious and will likely be revised as the semester proceeds. Updates to the course schedule will be posted on Blackboard or distributed in class as needed. Please note: the take home final will be due May 13th at noon.

Unit One: Meaning, Convention, and Speech Acts Jan. 15th • Introduction: No reading assignment

Jan. 17th • H. P. Grice, ‘Meaning’* • William Lycan, Philosophy of Language, Chapter 7

Jan. 22nd • H.P. Grice, ‘Utterer’s Meaning and Intentions’ • John Searle, ‘What Is a Speech Act?’ (selections)*

Jan. 24th • John Searle, ‘What Is a Speech Act?’ (selections)* (cont.) • Kent Bach, ‘Meaning, Speech Acts, and Communication’*

Jan. 29th • David Lewis, ‘Language and Languages’ (selections)*

Jan. 31st • David Lewis, ‘Language and Languages’ (selections)* • Tyler Burge, ‘Knowledge and Convention’

Feb. 5th • Tyler Burge, ‘Knowledge and Convention’ (continued) • Stephen Schiffer, ‘Actual-Language Relations’* (selections)

Unit Three: Conversational Implicature

Feb. 7th • H. P. Grice, ‘Logic and Conversation’*

2 • William Lycan, (ibid.) Chapter Thirteen

Feb. 12th • H. P. Grice, ‘Logic and Conversation’* (continued) • Wayne Davis, Selections from Implicature • First Paper Due

Feb. 14th • Wayne Davis, Selections from Implicature (continued)

Unit Four: Definite Descriptions Feb. 19th • Bertrand Russell, ‘On Denoting’* (selections) • Stephen Neale, Chapters One and Two of Descriptions

Feb. 21st • Bertrand Russell, ‘On Denoting’* (selections) (cont.) • Stephen Neale, Chapters One and Two of Descriptions (cont.)

Feb. 26th • P. F. Strawson, ‘On Referring’ • Stephen Neale, ‘Context and Communication’

Feb. 28th • Keith Donnellan, ‘Reference and Definite Descriptions’ • Stephen Neale, ‘Context and Communication’ (cont.)

Mar. 5th • Kripke, S. ‘Speaker’s Reference and Semantic Reference’ • Reimer, M. ‘Donnellan’s Distinction/Kripke’s Test

Unit Five: Reference and Proper Names Mar. 7th • Gottlieb Frege, ‘On Sense and Reference’ (cont.) • Searle, J. ‘Proper Names’ • Chapter Three of Lycan

Mar. 12/14th • No class: Spring Break

Mar. 19th • In-Class Exam

Mar. 21st • Saul Kripke, Lecture One of Naming and Necessity

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Mar. 26th • Saul Kripke, Lecture Two of N & N

Mar. 28th • Saul Kripke, Lecture Two of N & N (cont.) • Saul Kripke, Lecture Three of N & N

April 2nd • Lecture Three of N & N • Gareth Evans, ‘A Causal Theory of Names’

Unit Six: Reference, Content, and Attitudes April 4th • Saul Kripke, ‘A Puzzle about Belief’ • David Sosa, ‘The Import of a Puzzle about Belief’*

April 9th • Saul Kripke, ‘A Puzzle about Belief’ (cont.) • David Sosa, ‘The Import of a Puzzle about Belief’* (cont.)

April 11th • Soames, S., Selections from Beyond Rigidity • Complete Draft of 2nd Paper due

Unit Seven – Indexicals and Demonstratives April 16th • Kaplan, D. ‘Demonstratives’

April 19th • Kaplan, D. ‘Demonstratives’ (cont.)

April 23rd • Perry, J. ‘The Essential Indexical’ • 2nd Paper due

April 25th • Perry, J. ‘The Essential Indexical’ (cont.) • 2nd Paper Due (final version)

April 39th • Heck, R., ‘Do Demonstratives have Senses?’

May 2nd • TBA

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