28384 - Philosophy of Language (LM)

Learning outcomes

Students should be made familiar with contemporary philosophy of language, i.e.  with conceptions of meaning, truth, reference, communication, context, etc. They are also expected to acquire argumentative skills, and become acquainted with the original work of leading philosophers of the past.  

Course contents

Words and traces

 

1 The evolution of language

Some papers from the Oxford handbook of language evolution M. Tallerman e K.R. Gibson eds.

Francesco Ferretti La facoltà del linguaggio (Roma Carocci 2015).

2 Conversational thinking

Aristotele On interpretation (any edition).*

Franco Lo Piparo Aristotele e il linguaggio / Cosa fa di una lingua una lingua (Roma-Bari Laterza 2003).

Manfredo Massironi “La via più breve nel pensiero visivo” (Sistemi intelligenti7 1995: 223-261).

Paolo Legrenzi, Costanza Papagno e Carlo Umiltà Psicologia generale(Bologna il Mulino 2012: capp 2, 3 e 5.

3 The sense of a name

Gottlob Frege “On sense and meaning”.*

John Searle “Proper Names” (in Speech Acts Cambridge Cambridge UP 1969: 162-174) .*

Ludwig Wittgenstein Tractatus logico-philosophicus (London Routledge 1922): 3.142, 4.144, 3.3.

Ludwig Wittgenstein Philosophical Investigations (Oxford Wiley- Blackwell 2009 4th ed: §§1-69) .

4 The reference of a name

Saul Kripke Naming and necessity Lectures I and II (Oxford Blackwell 1980).

Keith Donnellan “Reference and definite description” (i The Philosophical Review 1966 75: 281-304)).

5 Fiction

Keith Donnellan “Speaking of nothing” (The Philosophical Review831974: 3-31)

Kendall Walton Mimesis as Make-Believe: On the Foundations of the Representational Arts (Cambridge, Mass. Harvard UP 1990).*

6 How to do things with words

John L. Austin How to do things with words (Oxford Oxford UP 1975 2nd ed.).*

P. Grice “Logic and conversation” (in P. Cole and J. Morgan (eds.), Syntax and Semantics, vol. 3: Speech Acts, New York Academic Press: 41-58.).

7 Existence

Bertrand Russell “On denoting” (Mind 1905 14: 479-493).

George E. Moore “Is existence a predicate?” ( Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume 15 1936: 154-74)

Willard van Orman Quine “On what there is” ( review of metaphysics 1948/49 2: 21-38)

8 Names and predicates

Bertrand Russell “On denoting” (Mind 1905 14: 479-493).

Willard van Orman Quine Word and object (Cambridge MA MIT Press 1960).

Delia Graff Fara “Names are predicates” (The Philosophical Review1242015: 59-117).

9 Meaning and use

Ludwig Wittgenstein Philosophical Investigations (Oxford Wiley- Blackwell 2009 4th ed: §§1-69 and138-139).

Michael Dummett “What is a theory of meaning? (1) (in The seas of language Oxford Clarendon Press 1993: 1-33).

Paul Horwich Wittgenstein’s Metaphilosophy (Oxford Clarendon Press 2012:105-143).

10 The substance of truth

John L. Austin “Truth” ().

Paul Horwich Truth-Meaning-Reality (Oxford Clarendon Press 2010), the first three chapters.

Stefano Caputo Verità (Roma-Bari Laterza 2015) or Giorgio VolpeVerità(Roma Carocci 2012).* (Choose one of the two.)

Readings/Bibliography

The texts with an asterisk above are obligatory.  The paper has to be done on two of the ten topics listed, submitting the instructor a proposal and having the proposal accepted.  

Teaching methods

Depending on the background knowledge of the students attending the class, I will try to encourage discussion, and written and oral presentations.

Students are expected to attend the classes and seminars.

Assessment methods

Students are expected to submit an essay (between 3.000 and 3.200 words or between 17.500 and 18.500), putting together 2 of the 10 topics discussed in class using the reference there indicated.

Teaching tools

Discussion groups on specific  issues will supplement the issues raised during the lectures and classes.

Office hours

See the website of Paolo Leonardi