Philosophy of Language I
The course introduces the student to the basic distinction between intension and extension, Frege's related distinction between meaning and reference, the distinction between analytically and synthetically true sentences, the idea that truth conditions form part of a sentence's meaning, and the principle of compositionality.
Registration
Before the start of the course, an email is sent out to all admitted students, with information and instructions. Admitted students are expected to register themselves (web registration).
More about the course content
Against the background of Frege's and Russell's classical theories about the semantic properties of different types of linguistic expressions, Kripke's theory of names and rigid designators is introduced. We address problems surrounding the semantics of modal statements, with possible world semantics as an important tool for clarifying these and other semantic difficulties, such as Kaplan's theory of context dependence, Grice's theory of implicatures and Searle's speech act theory. Finally, more general philosophical theories of language – notably Grice’s, Lewis’ and Davidson’s – are discussed, which in one way or another try to analyze the concept of linguistic meaning.
Learning platform: Reading instructions, detailed course planning, etc. will be posted on the course's Athena page. Admitted students who have activated their student account and have been registered on the course automatically become participants on the course's Athena page.
Teacher: Anders Schoubye
Expected learning outcomes, as well as information about the grading scale: See the syllabus.
Grading criteria: Found on the course's Athena page before the start of the course.
Teaching Format
The teaching will be conducted in the form of lectures and discussions. See syllabus for attendance requirements.
Assessment
The course is examined with a home assignment and a four-hour classroom exam.
Director of studies: Mattias Högström mattias.hogstrom@philosophy.su.se
Study councelling studievagledning@philosophy.su.se
Teacher: Anders Schoubye anders.schoubye@philosophy.su.se
