Philosophy 500, Introduction to Contemporary Philosophical Literature, Fall 2021 Thurs: 2:00-4:30 PM Scott Soames, STO 223, and MHP 107, (213)-740-0798, [email protected], website: http://dornsife.usc.edu/scottsoames, Office hours: Description An advanced introduction to leading philosophers in the analytic tradition from Frege (1879) to the present. Topics center on philosophical logic, the philosophy of language, metaphysics and the philosophy of mind. Texts Weekly readings available from Hoose, online, and, on occasion, the MHP office Books on Reserve in the Hoose Library Almog, et al Themes From Kaplan (TFK) Rudolf Carnap Meaning and Necessity Enlarged Edition U. of Chicago 1956 (MN) Peter Geach, Max Black, eds. Translations from the Philosophical Writings of Gottlob Frege (PW) Gottlob Frege Foundations of Arithmetic (translated by Austin) (FA) Mario Gomez-Torrente Roads to Reference. (RR) David Lewis Philosophical Papers Volume 1 (PP1) Saul Kripke Naming and Necessity (NN) _____ Philosophical Troubles (PT) Leonard Linsky, Reference and Modality (RM) Hilary Putnam Mind, Language, and Reality: Philosophical Papers, Vol. 2 W.V.O. Quine From a Logical Point of View (LPV) ____ Ways of Paradox (WP) ____ Word and Object (WO) Scott Soames The Analytic Tradition, Vols 1, 2 (ATP 1,2) ____ Philosophy of Language (PL) ____ Philosophical Essays, Vol. 2 (PE2) ____ Rethinking Language, Mind, and Meaning (RLMM) Robert Stalnaker Context and Content (CC)

Course Requirements In addition to the reading, there will be weekly assignments of 1000–1500 words on specified topics, due electronically 48 hours before class. During the course of the term you need to turn in seven (although you may choose to do more). They will be returned with comments 24 hours before class, and will be discussed, along with new material during the seminar. You will also be responsible for making 2 short presentations of at least 10 minutes. Different possible topics for these presentations will be offered each week. In addition to the Thursday seminar, there will be a weekly meeting 9-10:30 each Monday in the Chair’s office in MHP. Students may raise and discuss any questions about seminar material. Monday attendance is optional. Credit and Grading Students will be graded on their written assignments and oral participation, including two short presentations. The weekly essays the two presentations, and class participation will be the sole determinants of your grade. Students completing the course will receive normal seminar credit. Schedule of Topics and Readings Weeks 1-3: Frege Week 1: In the first week we will discuss leading ideas of Frege's logic and philosophy of mathematics. The discussion will be based on three very short handouts -- emailed to you in advance. You need not read anything else, but, If you wish to explore a bit further, you might consult some or all of sections 1-4, 45-57, 60-63, 68-69, and 70-83 of FA plus some or all of sections 4, 5 8 of chapter 2 of ATP 1. Week 2: Frege “On Sense and Reference” online, plus sections 3 (truth), 4 (sense and reference), and 5 (Platonism and Frege's hierarchy) of Chapter 2 of ATP 1.

Week 3: Frege, “The Thought” online; Kripke, “Frege’s Theory of Sense and Reference” in PT; also sec 7 of chapter 2 ATP1 Week 4: Russell Bertrand Russell “On Denoting” (online) plus sections 1, 2, 3 of chapter 8 of ATP 1 Week 5: Truth and Meaning Tarski “Truth and Proof” (PDF from instructor), Sections 2.1 and 2.2 of Chapter 2 of PL, a brief selection from Dummet “Truth,” (PDF from instructor) plus section 3 of chapter 9 of ATP 2. Weeks 6-8: Quine and Carnap on Meaning, Necessity, Apriority, Analyticity, Reference and Ontology Excerpt from Quine, “Truth by Convention” (provided by instructor), Quine, “Notes on Existence and Necessity” (RM), Soames, pp 1-12 of “The Place of Quine in Analytic Philosophy,” website, and Quine, “Two Dogmas of Empiricism” (LPV); Quine, “On What There Is,” (LPV), Carnap “Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology” and “Meaning and Synonymy in Natural Languages” (MN) and online (Jstor); Soames, "Ontology, Analyticity, and Meaning: The Quine, Carnap Dispute"; website Quine, chapter 2 of Word and Object, and “Ontological Relativity,” pp. 185-201 in Journal of Philosophy, 1968, available online;” Soames, sections 7-9 “The Place of Quine in Analytic Philosophy.” Weeks 9-11: Kripke, Putnam, Lewis on Mind and Language Kripke Lectures 1 & 2 of NN; Soames, “Kripke on Epistemic & Metaphysical Possibility" , “Fruits of the Causal Theory of Reference,” both on website Kripke Lecture 3 of NN, Soames, "Knowledge of Manifest Natural Kinds" (from p. 189 to top of p. 205) in PE2, "What are Natural Kinds;" "Anti-Descriptivism 2.0 pp.1-5 ,”website, and chapter 5 RR (PDF from instructor) Putnam “The Nature of Mental States” in Putnam; Lewis, “An Argument for the Identity Theory” (PP1) Week 12-13: Propositions and Attitudes Week 12: First 6 sections of Soames "Direct Reference, Propositional Attitudes and Semantic Content," vol. 15 of Philosophical Topics, available at Jstor; Stalnaker "Assertion" (CC), Soames "Understanding Assertion", website Week 13: Kripke “A Puzzle about Belief” in Kripke PT; Tom Nagel, What's it Like to be a Bat? available online,, Soames "Cognitive Propositions" web site, plus pp. 81-95 of RLMM Weeks 14-15 Context Sensitivity Kaplan “Demonstratives” (TFK), Salmon "Demonstrating and Necessity" Phil Review, vol 111, Jstor, Soames pp 145-151 and 163-168 of PL,

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