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Philosophy of Language Philosophy 247/247W/447 Fall 2007

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Philosophy of Language Philosophy 247/247W/447 Fall 2007 Philosophy of Language Philosophy 247/247W/447 Fall 2007 Instructor: David Braun Time and Location: MWF 11:00-11:50 pm, Dewey 2110E Office, Phone, E-mail: Lattimore 525, (585) 275-8107, [email protected] Office Hours: Mondays 2:00-4:00, and by appointment Course Website: http://www.ling.rochester.edu/~braun/Teaching/247/index.htm Words and sentences in English and other languages have meanings. That is why speakers can use sentences to communicate their thoughts, some of which are true. But what are meanings? What are the meanings of ‘Jimmy Carter’, ‘dog’, red’, ‘waves’, ‘marry’, and ‘the’? How are meaning, reference, thought, communication, and truth related? How do words and sentences get their meanings and referents? We will begin this course by considering several theories about the nature of meaning and reference. We will then discuss communication and speech acts, the determination of word and sentence meaning, and skepticism about meaning. If time permits, we will end with an inquiry into the nature of truth. Prerequisites The only prerequisite is one prior philosophy course. I will use some symbolic logic, which I will explain as fully as possible in the time we have, but you may find this course easier if you have taken Philosophy 110 (Introductory Logic). Texts 1. A. P. Martinich (ed.), The Philosophy of Language, 4th or 5th ed. 2. William Lycan, Philosophy of Language: A Contemporary Introduction. 3. Readings on Electronic Reserve and on the course website. 4. Recommended: Saul Kripke, Naming and Necessity. Martinich, Lycan, and Kripke can be purchased at the River Campus bookstore. Required Work for Undergraduates Without Upper-Level Writing 1. Regular attendance and participation in class discussion. 2. A quiz on use and mention. 3. Two short papers, 3-5 pages, on assigned topics. Tentative due dates, September 28 and October 12. 4. A midterm. Tentative date, October 24. 5. A longer paper, 5-7 pages, on an assigned topic. Tentative due date, November 16. 6. A final examination on Thursday, December 20, 19:15. No exceptions. 1 Required Work for Undergraduates With Upper-Level Writing Same as above, but you are required to do a re-write of the long paper. Tentative due date for re- write, Monday, December 10. Required Work for Graduate Students Same as for undergraduates without upper-level writing, except that (i) standards will be higher, (ii) additional reading will be required, including all reading listed as Recommended below, (iii) additional questions may be required on exams, and (iv) the long paper should be about 10 pages, and will be due Friday, December 7. Matriculated Ph.D. students in philosophy may also be required to attend additional meetings with me. Grading I will grade each written assignment on a 100-point scale. At the end of the term, I will calculate a numerical score for each student, using the weights for each assignment given below. I will use that numerical score to assign a letter grade. Undergraduates without upper-level writing 1. Quiz on use/mention 5% 2. Two short papers 15% each 3. First exam 20% 4. Long paper 25% 5. Second exam 20% Undergraduates with upper-level writing 1. Quiz on use/mention 5% 2. Two short papers 15% each 3. First exam 20% 4. Long paper 15% 5. Re-write 10% 6. Second exam 20% Graduates Same as undergraduates without upper-level writing. Clusters This course satisfies the requirements for the “Knowledge, Mind, and Nature” cluster in Philosophy. 2 Topics and Approximate Schedule I will periodically make reading assignments from the following list, at approximately the times indicated. There may be additions or subtractions to the readings, and some topics may be omitted, depending on time and interest. I abbreviate the names of our readings as follows: M = Martinich, L = Lycan, E = Electronic Reserve, K = Kripke’s Naming and Necessity (the book), C= Course website (URL at the beginning of this syllabus). The dates given below for assignments are tentative. 1. The Naive Theory and Millianism (Sep 5 - Sep 14) M: Introduction, sections 1-6. Mill, “Of Names”. L: Chapter 1, pp. 1-8. Recommended: C, “Names and Natural Kind Terms”, sections 1 and 2. 2. The Idea Theory (Sep 17 - Sep 21) M: Locke, “Of Words”. L: Chapter 6, pp. 78-80. LFirst Paper Due Friday, September 287 3. Frege (Sep 24 - Sep 28) M: Frege, “On Sense & Nominatum”, first eight pages, then last page. L: Chapter 2, pp. 12-16. Chapter 5, pp. 80-87. Recommended: M, Frege, the remainder of “On Sense & Nominatum”. M, Church, “Intensional Semantics”. C, section on Frege in “Frege and Russell”. 4. Russell (Oct 1 - Oct 5) M: Russell, “On Denoting”. Russell, “Descriptions”. E: Russell, “Knowledge by Acquaintance and by Description”. L: Chapter 2, pp. 13-25. Recommended: C, section on Russell in “Frege and Russell”. LNo class, Friday, October 57 Fall Break, Monday, October 8 LSecond Paper Due, Friday, October 127 5. Kripke, Anti-Descriptivism, and Direct Reference (Oct 10 - Oct 17) E: Searle, “Proper Names”. M: Kripke, selection from “Naming and Necessity”. L: Chapter 3, all of it. Chapter 4, pp. 52-66. Recommended: M, Putnam, “Meaning and Reference,” pp. 288-295. K, Naming and Necessity (all of it). C, “Names and Natural Kind Terms”, section 3-5. 3 6. Millianism and Belief (Oct 19 - Oct 22) M: Kripke, “A Puzzle About Belief”. Recommended: C, “Names and Natural Kind Terms”, section 7. LMidterm examination on Wednesday, October 247 7. Speech Acts (Oct 26 - Nov 5) M: Austin, “Performative Utterances”. Searle, “A Taxonomy of Illocutionary Acts”, sections 1-2; “Indirect Speech Acts”, first seven pages. E: Bach, “Introduction”. Austin, selections from How To Do Things With Words. 8. Pragmatics and Conversational Implicature (Nov 12 - Nov 19) M: Grice, “Logic and Conversation.” L: Chapter 13, pp. 187-204. LThird Paper Due Friday, November 167 9. Communicative Intentions and Meaning (Nov 26 - Nov 30) M: Grice, “Meaning.” Lewis, “Languages and Language,” sections 1-3 and last three pages. L: Chapter 7, pp. 100-114. Recommended: M, Lewis, “Languages and Language”, the remainder. 10. Skepticism About Meaning: Rule Following (Dec 3 - Dec 7) M: Kripke, “On Rules and Private Language.” 11. Truth (if time permits) M: Tarski, “The Semantic Conception of Truth and the Foundations of Semantics.” E: Soames, Introduction on Meaning and Truth. McGee, “Afterword: Truth and Paradox”. LFinal Examination Thursday, December 20, 19:157 4.
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