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Department of Philosophy / Courses / Archives / Summer 2014 (1144) / PHIL 344
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PHIL 344: Philosophy of Language I

Summer Semester 2014 | Day | Burnaby

 

INSTRUCTOR: Martin Hahn, WMC 4627 (mhahn@sfu.ca)

REQUIRED TEXT

  • The Philosophy of Language, 6th edition, Edited by A.P. Martinich.  Note that older editions of the book are substantially similar aside from pagination and a few missing articles.  Any edition of the book is acceptable for this course.  You can also get away without the book altogether; almost all the articles are available on-line.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Philosophers have always known that their discipline is heavily dependent on language and could profit tremendously from a thorough analysis of truth, linguistic meaning, and other related concepts.  Whether one thinks that our thought is revealed and structured by language or that the true nature of our thought is hidden behind its necessarily inaccurate linguistic expression, the study of language is of central importance.

But it is only in the 20th century that the philosophy of language came into its own.  Fortunately for us there has been more progress in the field than in most other philosophical areas. One might argue that Aristotle's ethics are in many ways as sophisticated as any modern theory, but it would be absurd to claim this for his (or any other great pre-Fregean philosopher's) philosophy of language. 

Modern philosophy of language is thus a sophisticated, highly technical, but also very rewarding subject.  In this course we will read and discuss some of the classics in the field: Russell, Frege, Davidson, Austin, Searle, Strawson, Quine, Kripke, Donnellan, and others.  The topics covered will include truth, meaning, reference, speech-acts, propositional attitudes, the analytic/synthetic distinction, and more.  The aim is to familiarize the students with the major concepts and theories in the field and give them the tools to understand the uses of the core results of 20th century philosophy of language in other areas of philosophy, such as philosophy of science, and of mind, metaphysics, epistemology and meta-ethics.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

  • Midterm (around 7th week) 25%
  • Term paper (10-12 pages) 40%
  • Final exam 35%

Prerequisites:  Either one of PHIL 201, or 203; or both of PHIL 100W and COGS 200.  While not a strict pre-requisite, it is highly recommended that students have at least some knowledge of formal logic, such as that acquired in PHIL 210, or at least PHIL 110.