Course Description
In this course we study the nature of linguistic meaning and reference with a particular focus on names, descriptions, natural kind terms, and theoretical terms in science. We discuss the classic theories of meaning and reference from Frege, Russell, and others, before analysing the influential work of Kripke. We look to contemporary responses to Kripke including the theory of two-dimensional semantics. We consider the implications of these views for various philosophical issues, including whether linguistic competence yields a priori knowledge of analytic truths and whether there are necessary truths that cannot be known a priori.
Readings
The following textbooks provide useful discussions of the topics covered:
Martinich, Aloysius P., ed. The Philosophy of Language. 5th ed. Oxford University Press, 2006.
Lycan, William G. Philosophy of Language: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy). 2nd ed. Routledge, 2008.
Assessment
The majority of your grade for this course will be determined by a final 3000 word essay worth 60% of the final grade. Two shorter essays (between 750 and 1500 words) will be due in week 8 and will each constitute 20% of your final mark.
Two essays 40%
Final essay 60%
Schedule
Week 1:
Semantics versus pragmatics
Required reading: (i) Grice: “Logic and Conversation”.
Optional additional reading: (i) Korta & Perry: “Pragmatics” (SEP entry).
Week 2:
Frege’s Theory
Required reading: (i) Frege: “The Thought: A Logical Enquiry”.
Optional additional reading: (i) Zalta: “Frege’s Philosophy of Language” (SEP entry).
Week 3:
Frege’s Puzzle
Required reading: (i) Frege: “On Sense and Reference”.
Optional additional reading: (i) Zalta: “Frege’s Philosophy of Language” (SEP entry).
Week 4:
Russell on Definite Descriptions
Required reading: (i) Russell: “On Denoting” (ii) Russell: “Descriptions”.
Optional additional reading: (i) Quine: “On What There Is”.
Week 5:
Strawson and Donnellan on Definite Descriptions
Required reading: (i) Strawson: “On Referring”. (ii) Donnellan: “Reference and Definite Descriptions”.
Optional additional reading: (i) Ludlow: “Descriptions” (SEP entry).
Week 6:
Analyticity and Empiricism
Required reading: (i) Quine: “Two Dogmas of Empiricism” (ii) Grice & Strawson: “In Defence of a Dogma”.
Optional additional reading: (i) Hempel: “Empiricist Criteria of Cognitive Significance: Problems and Changes” (ii) Carnap: “Quine on Analyticity” (iii) Chalmers: “Revisability and Conceptual Change in “Two Dogmas of Empiricism”.
Week 7:
Kripke 1 (Descriptivism)
Required reading: (i) Kripke: “Naming and Necessity” (Lecture 1).
Optional additional reading: (i) Searle: “Proper Names” (ii) Wittgenstein: “Philosophical Investigations” (excerpt).
Week 8:
Kripke 2 (Causal Theory of Reference)
Required reading: (i) Kripke: “Naming and Necessity” (Lecture 2).
Optional additional reading: (i) Evans: “The Causal Theory of Names” (ii) Putnam: The Meaning of ‘Meaning'”.
Week 9:
Kripke 3 (Natural Kind Terms and A Posteriori Necessities)
Required reading: (i) Kripke: “Naming and Necessity” (Lecture 3).
Optional additional reading: (i) Weisberg: “Water is Not H2O” (ii) Mellor: “Natural Kinds”.
Week 10:
The Descriptivist Response
Required reading: (i) Jackson: “Reference and Description Revisited”.
Optional additional reading: (i) Jackson: “From Metaphysics to Ethics” (excerpt) (ii) Kroon: Causal Descriptivism.
Week 11:
Two-Dimensional Semantics
Required reading: (i) Nimtz: “Two-Dimensional Semantics – the Basics” (ii) Chalmers: “Epistemic Two-Dimensional Semantics”.
Optional additional reading: (i) Schroeter: “Two-Dimensional Semantics” (SEP entry).
Week 12:
Challenges to Two-Dimensional Semantics
Required reading: (i) Schroeter: “Against A Priori Reductions” (ii) deRossett: “Reference and Response”.
Optional additional reading: (i) Schroeter: “Considering Empty Worlds as Actual” (ii) Speaks: “Epistemic Two-Dimensionalism and the Epistemic Argument (iii) Elliott, McQueen & Weber: “Epistemic Two-Dimensionalism and Arguments from Epistemic Misclassification”.
Week 13:
Kripkenstein: Meaning Scepticism
Required reading: (i) Kripke: “On Rules and Private Language”.
Optional additional reading: (i) Boghossian: “The Rule-Following Considerations” (ii) Soames: “Skepticism about Meaning”.
