Philosophy of Language

PHIL 370W

• Overview
• Assignments
• Grading
• Texts
• Schedule

• Announcements
  Final paper draft now due 11/25. We have no class on that day -- please send your draft to me by email and I will pass it along to your commenters.
  11/18/08 at 7:36PM
  Changed readings for remaining classes (more changes coming).
  11/14/08 at 6:27AM
  Changed final paper draft due-date to 11/20.
  11/11/08 at 6:52PM
  Rearranged readings for 11/11 and 11/13.
  11/06/08 at 7:32AM
  Added notes on Austin.
  10/30/08 at 7:32PM
  Rearranged some readings between tomorrow and 11/6.
  10/29/08 at 11:02PM
  Thursday's class is cancelled. Adjusted later readings.
  10/21/08 at 12:02PM
  Added notes on Kripke to reading for 10/7 (retrospectively), also made "The Meaning of 'Meaning'" and the Mellor and Schwartz readings optional. Re-read the shorter Putnam piece for tomorrow.
  10/08/08 at 11:02AM
  Added midterm questions -- see assignment for schedule of draft due-dates.
  10/02/08 at 9:02PM
  Shifted the first Russell readings from 9/16 to 9/18 (and bumped everything else down, too), so that we can wrap up Frege on 9/16. Re-read Frege for 9/16.
  09/11/08 at 6:45PM
  Please name all papers after yourself, as in "jane doe.doc" (you may add a number after your name if you like, to indicate which paper it is).
  09/09/08 at 10:15PM
  

Contact Information

Ivan Welty
Eaton 301
(503) 370-6401

Office Hours: TTh 1-2PM and by appointment

Course Information

Philosophy of Language
Eaton 308
TTh 2:30-4:00PM

Resources

Philosophy of Language Links
University of London Study Page
Searchable Bibliography

Course Overview

This course is an introduction to some major issues and debates in the philosophy of language. The course is introductory in that it presupposes no acquaintance with the field. Nevertheless the material is demanding, and you should come prepared to work hard.

Most of the topics covered in the course center around the notion of meaning: What are the ingredients of meaning? How does the meaning of an expression contribute to the meaning of a sentence containing that expression? What form should be taken by a theory of meaning for a specific language? The first part of the course will focus on the interplay between meaning and reference. This will take us from the work of early authors (Mill, Frege, Russell, Carnap) up to the more recent debate on the causal theory of reference (Donnellan, Kripke, Putnam). The second part of the course will focus on the interplay between meaning and truth and will cover such topics as the indeterminacy of translation, the nature of interpretation, holism, realism, and antirealism (Tarski, Quine, Davidson, Dummett). Finally, in the third part of the course, we shall consider some aspects of the interplay between meaning and use, focusing on the theory of speech acts (Austin, Grice, Searle) and the nature of linguistic rules and conventions (Chomsky, Lewis, Wittgenstein). We will read very little Wittgenstein in this course, although his work is the source of some of the views that we will discuss and the culmination of others. If you are interested in going more deeply into the philosophy of language, I strongly encourage you to take "Later Wittgenstein" (PHIL 361) next semester.

Assignments

Several short papers (around one page each), one midterm paper (5-7 pages, due midsemester) and a final paper (7-10 pages, due at semester's end).

This course is officially designated as writing centered. Accordingly, we will spend a fair bit of time working on your writing, mainly by instituting draft exchanges for the midterm and final papers.

Grading

The midterm will count for 25% of your grade, the final for 50%, and the rest will count for 25%. Papers will be graded on a five point scale:

1. Bad.
2. Not bad.
3. Good.
4. Very good.
5. Great.

If you get 1 on a paper, come see me. 2 and 3 are the most common grades, while 4 is less common and 5 is rare. (The scale for final papers is slightly different: I include half-grades up to 5, e.g. 2.5 but not 5.5.)

If at any point in the semester you'd like to have a letter-grade estimate of where you stand, I'll be more than happy to give you one.

If you'd like more time to finish an assignment, please arrange an extension with me in advance of the due-date.

Texts

The only required text is Martinich's The Philosophy of Language (5th edition), available for purchase at the campus bookstore. Other readings will be made available via link below or as handouts.

Tentative Schedule

Texts are listed in the order they should be read. All readings are required unless otherwise indicated.

Design courtesy of University of Delaware.