Philosophy 408: The Language Revolution

Russell Marcus, Instructor. Email me.

Hamilton College, Spring 2009

 

Syllabus pdf version


Meeting Times and Place:

  • Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:30pm - 3:45pm
  • Cooper 207

Texts:

  • A.P. Martinich, The Philosophy of Language 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 2008.
  • Additional readings, available on reserve, and on the course website.

Course Description and Overview:

If there is one unifying theme for twentieth-century philosophy, it would have to be the study of language. Some philosophers believed that all philosophical questions arise from misuses of language. Others believed that clarifying our uses of language can lead us to solutions to perennial philosophical questions, like the mind and body problem, or whether God exists. Still others explored the nature of language and its uses for its own sake. The profound developments in logic in the twentieth century were concomitant with this focus on language.

Assignments and Grading

Each student will be expected to complete three seminar papers during the term. A sign-up sheet for the first two seminar papers will be distributed in our second class meeting. Students will also be expected to complete a longer paper, in two drafts (preliminary and final). There will be a final exam. Assignments will be weighted as follows:

1. All the primary readings listed below, including seminar papers.
2. Article prècises (10%)
3. Two seminar papers/presentations (2-4 pages; 5-10 minutes) (15%; 30% each)
4. Term paper (8-12 pages) (30%)
5. Final exam (30%)

Article prècises are 100- to 150- word summaries of an assigned reading. At most one prècis is due in each class. I will not collect them until the end of the term, unless you display a need for me to collect them earlier. You will mainly be graded on the completion of twenty prècises, rather than their quality. I expect that the prècises will be useful to you in preparing both for classes and for the final exam. You need not complete a prècis for classes in which you are presenting a seminar paper.

Classes will generally run as discussions of a 750- to 1500-word seminar paper. Seminar papers should assimilate the assigned readings and summarize the main arguments. Critical discussion is encouraged, and need not be fully developed. You are instigating class discussion, focusing our thoughts on the central theses, and raising questions. It is good practice to end a seminar paper with a few questions you believe will be useful for the class to discuss.

Each seminar paper is due at noon by email to all seminar participants the day before the class in which it will be discussed (i.e. Monday or Wednesday). This deadline is necessary for all participants in the seminar to be able to read the paper and prepare comments and questions for class. Classes will begin with a short (five-to-ten minute) presentation of the main ideas of your paper, at which time you may discuss any particular difficulties in the material, or topics that you were unable to cover in the paper. Your grade for the term paper will depend on both the paper and your presentation of it.

Your term papers will be completed in three stages. A one-paragraph abstract of you paper is due on Tuesday, March 31. A full draft of your term paper is due on Tuesday, April 14. The final draft is due on Thursday, April 30. I expect that most of you will choose to expand one of your first two seminar papers, considering an assigned article and a response to it that we did not discuss in class. I will be happy to meet with you to discuss topics, in advance. Failure to hand in a draft, or handing in an insufficient draft, will reduce your final paper grade by two steps (e.g. from B+ to B-).

The final exam will be on Wednesday, May 13, 2009, from 2pm to 5pm. Preparatory questions will be posted on the course website.

Both the Writing Center and the Oral Communications Center have an astoundingly wonderful set of resources to help you write and speak more effectively.

The Hamilton College Honor Code will be enforced.

Schedule

Full bibliographic references for each of the entries below is available in the course bibliography.
Page numbers below refer to the Martinich volume.

Class 1: Motivating the Revolution (1/20)


Class 2: The Ontological Argument: A Case Study (1/22)


Class 3: Locke and Mill on Language (1/27)

  • Readings
    P: Locke, "Of Words," pp 621-5
    Mill, "Of Names," pp 284-9


Class 4: Intensionalism (1/29)

  • Seminar Paper: Colin
  • Reading
    P: Frege, "The Thought: A Logical Inquiry," 36-49

Class 5: The Sense/Reference Distinction (2/3)
  • Seminar Paper: Reva Narula
  • Reading
    P: Frege, "On Sense and Nominatum," pp 217-229

Class 6: Russell's Description Theory (2/5)

  • Seminar Paper: Tudor Seserman
  • Readings

    P: Russell, "Descriptions," pp 239-45


Class 7: Strawson on Referring (2/10)

  • Seminar Paper: Max
  • Readings
    P: Strawson, "On Referring," pp 246-60


Class 8: The Attributive/Referential Distinction (2/12)

  • Seminar Paper: Russell
  • Reading
    P: Donnellan, "Reference and Definite Descriptions," pp 265-77


Class 9: Direct Reference, I (2/17)

  • Seminar Paper: Reva
  • Reading
    P: Kripke, "Naming and Necessity," pp 290-305


Class 10: Direct Reference, II (2/19)

  • Reading
    P: Kripke, "Naming and Necessity," pp 290-305


Class 11: Natural Kinds (2/24)

  • Seminar Paper: Megha
  • Reading
    P: Putnam, "Meaning and Reference," pp 306-13


Class 12: Positivism (2/26)

  • Seminar Paper: Gillian
  • Readings
    P: Ayer, "The Principle of Verification"
    Hempel, "Empiricist Criteria of Cognitive Significance: Problems and Changes (1950)," pp 50-62


Class 13: Meaning Holism I (3/3)

  • Seminar Paper: Tudor
  • Reading

    P: Quine, "Two Dogmas of Empiricism," pp 63-76


Class 14: Meaning Holism II (3/5)

  • Readings

    P: Quine, "Two Dogmas of Empiricism," pp 63-76

Class 15: Meaning Holism III (3/10)


Class 16: Intention-Based Semantics (was 3/12; now 3/31)

  • Seminar Paper: Gillian
  • Reading

    P: Grice, "Meaning," pp 108-113


Class 17: Deflationism (was 3/31; now 4/2)

Abstracts of term papers are due.

Class 18: Tarski's Theory of Truth (was 4/2; 4/5, in my home)


Class 19: Truth Theories as Meaning Theories (4/7)

  • Seminar Paper: Michael
  • Reading

    P: Davidson, "Truth and Meaning," 114-125


Class 20: The New Intensionalism (4/9)

  • Seminar Paper: Ronald
  • Reading
    P: Katz, "Introduction" and "Sense"


Class 21: The Private Language Argument (4/14)

Full drafts of term papers are due.


Class 22: Meaning Skepticism I (4/16)

  • Seminar Paper : Jared
  • Reading

    P: Wittgenstein, "On Private Language"
    Kripke, "On Rules and Private Languages," pp 626-38


Class 23: Meaning Skepticism II (4/21)

  • Seminar Paper: Nick
  • Readings
    P: Kripke, "On Rules and Private Languages," pp 626-38

Class 24: A Solution to the Kripkenstein Paradox (4/23)

  • Seminar Paper: Megha
  • Reading
    P: Millikan, "Truth Rules, Hoverflies, and the Kripke-Wittgenstein Paradox," pp 639-55
    Note: Focus only on the first six sections of the paper (and maybe the last paragraph).


Class 25: Chomsky I (4/28)

  • Seminar Paper: Nick
  • Reading
    P: Chomsky, "Language and Problems of Knowledge," pp 675-693


Class 26: Chomsky II (4/30)

Final versions of term papers are due.

  • Reading
    P: Chomsky, "Language and Problems of Knowledge," pp 675-693

Class 27: Platonism (5/5)


Class 28: Devitt (5/7)

Final Exam: May 13, 2-5pm