78012 - Mind and Language (1)

Learning outcomes

This course will introduce to some central topics and arguments in the philosophy of mind and language in the tradition of analytic philosophy. The main aim is to engage in detail with some arguments and texts that have played a central role in contemporary discussions. Possible topics include: the nature of linguistic and mental content, the nature of thought and its relation to linguistic understanding; what is reference and meaning and what are their relations to intentionality and concepts; the relation between our inferential and representiational abilities and the nature of our rationality; the nature and our knowledge of our mental states; the relation between the physical and the mental domains. Students will acquire an understanding of some central topics in the philosophy of mind and language and they will be in a position to explain and to engage competently orally and in writing with these problems. More specifically they will be in a position to: * master the central concepts in the theory of language and mind; * understand the philosophical positions involved on the debates; * understand the arguments in favour or against the relevant philosophical theses; * have some appreciation of the significance of these issues for other areas of philosophy.

Course contents

Philosophical Paradoxes

The course will introduce to some of the paradoxes that are prominent in the philosophical tradition.

Paradoxes are arguments that afflict the mind that trap reason into confusion and bafflement. Can these paradoxes solved? Are our difficulties with these puzzles related to the working of our mind?

Complete syllabus available on Moodle:

https://iol.unibo.it/mod/resource/view.php?id=172226

Moodle password: paradoxes2018-2019

Readings/Bibliography

The course will based on a selection from the following texts:

Sainsbury , M.R. Paradoxes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 3a edizione, 2009

Earl Conee and Ted Sider, Riddles of Existence: A Guided Tour of Metaphysics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.

See the online syllabus for further details per dettagli.

Teaching methods

Together with the standard classroom lectures, I will employ quizzies on the elearning system and I will experiment the teaching method of peer instruction.

Assessment methods

Paper and discussion during exam.

I will use these verification criteria to determine the following evaluation thresholds:


30 and praise excellent proof, both in knowledge and in the critical and expressive articulation.

30 excellent test, complete knowledge, well articulated and correctly expressed, with some critical ideas.


27-29 good test, comprehensive and satisfactory knowledge, substantially correct expression.


24-26 discrete test, knowledge present in the substantial points, but not exhaustive and not always correctly articulated.


21-23 sufficient proof, knowledge present in a sometimes superficial way, but the general thread is understood. Short and often inappropriate and incomplete expression and articulation.


18-21 superficial knowledge, the common thread is not understood with continuity. The expression and the articulation of the discourse also have significant gaps.


<18 insufficient evidence, absent or very incomplete knowledge, lack of orientation in the discipline, defective and inappropriate expression. Examination not passed.

Teaching tools

Slides, elearning and Kahoot software for the peer instruction method.

Office hours

See the website of Sebastiano Moruzzi