- Docente: Eva Picardi
- Credits: 5
- SSD: M-FIL/05
- Language: Italian
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
- Campus: Bologna
- Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LS) in Philosophical Sciences (cod. 0462)
Learning outcomes
The corse focuses on communication, and in particular on issues of reference, semantics and ontology which arise both in scientifica thoeries and in ordanary language.
The students are expected to acquire expository and argumentative skills.
Course contents
The course focuses on Quine's test of ontological commitment, and examines the (different) objections levelled against Quine's proposal on the part of P.F. Strawson and R. Carnap. The distinction between descriptive and revisionary metaphysics will be discussed, and Quine's programme of a naturalized epistemology.
Readings/Bibliography
The (written) examination will be about selected parts of the following books and/or articles:
W. V. Quine, On What There Is, in From a Logical Point of View (1953), trad it Da un punto di vista logico, Milano, Raffaello Cortina, 2004.
W.V. Quine, 1969. Ontological Relativity, trad. it. La relatività ontologica, Roma, Armando, 1986
Rudolf Carnap,. Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology , trad. it. Empirismo, semantica e ontologia, in P. Casalegno, P. Frascolla. A. Icona, E. Paganini, M. Santambrogio (a cura di) Filosofia del linguaggio, Milano, Cortina editore, 2003, pp. 85-105.
P.F. Strawson, Individuals (1959), trad. it. Individui, trad. it Individui, Milano, Feltrinelli 1978.
J. A. Coffa, The Semantic Tradition from Kant to Carnap: to the Vienna Station (1991), trad. it. La tradizione semantica da Kant a Carnap, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1998.
A.Varzi, Ontologia e metafisica in F. D'Agostini, N. Vassallo (a cura di), Storia della filosofia analitica, Torino, Einaudi, 2002.
E. Picardi, Linguaggio e analisi filosofica, Bologna, Patron, 1992.
G. Origgi, Quine, Bari-Roma, Laterza, 2000.
Assessment methods
The exam consists of a discussion of a written essay (max 18 pages) on the issues discussed during the classes and seminars. The essay should be made available 10 days befor the oral examination.
The students are expected to attend classes and seminars.
Teaching tools
All the bibliographical material listed in the required reading is available at the Library of the Philosophy Dept.
Other maerial will be made available on my web page.
Links to further information
http://mentelogicalinguaggio.dsc.unibo.it
Office hours
See the website of Eva Picardi