PHIL 222 - Philosophy of Language

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

Language is our primary means of expressing our thoughts. Language is also one of our primary means of representing the world. For these reasons, philosophers of language have engaged in two interrelated projects: first, to offer a theory of linguistic meaning itself; second, to find novel approaches to traditional problems about the mind and reality through the study of how we use language to express thoughts, communicate, and represent the world. We survey the philosophical research on meaning and truth, as well as the puzzles that such research seeks to illuminate, solve, or explain away. Particular attention is given to the meanings of names (“Socrates”, “Antarctica”), definite descriptions (“the table”, “the oldest living person”), pure indexicals (“I”, “now”, “tomorrow”, “here”), demonstratives (“that”, “this”) and modals (“might”, “must”, “should”, “possibly”, “necessarily”), and their significance for metaphysics and epistemology. Matthew Moss.

Prerequisite(s): One previous course in Philosophy.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS