Philosophy of Language I

Code:

FLUP0521

Acronym:

FLI1

Instance: 2003/2004 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Philosophy
Institution Responsible:	Faculty of Arts

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
FIL	73	Official Study Plan - LFIL	3	-	6	-
		Plano oficial 2003 - 1º ao 3º ano	3	-	6	-

Objectives

Philosophy of Languages I is mainly theoretical but it also focuses on crucial points of the history of philosophy of language from the 19th century on. The first part of the subject’s plan will focus on the empirical studies of language and on theory of language as an introduction to the subject’s main theme – philosophy of language – to be explored in Part II.

Program

PART I
Sciences of language and philosophy of language. Basic terminology for the study of language. Natural languages and formal languages. Cognitiva science, mind and language: linguistics as a cognitive science (based on N. Chomsky). Some language problems from the viewpoint of biology, psychology and linguistics: origins of language in human beings, Grammars as models, cerebral localizations related with the faculty of language, modularity.

PART II

1. The importance of the philosophy of language in the history of analytical philosophy.
2. Meaning and Reference: G. Frege and B. Russell (Über Sinn und Bedeutung and On Denoting). Proper names and Defined Descriptions. Comparison of the ontological and epistemological positions of G. Frege and B. Russell.
3. A pictorial theory of language: L. Wittgenstein (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus). The theory of proposition according to Bild (model). The status of logic and the place of subjectivity.
4. Theories of use: L. Wittgenstein (Philosophical Inquiries). Argument of private language. Nature of language, thought and philosophy.

Main Bibliography

BEANEY, M. (org), 1997, The Frege Reader, Oxford, Blackwell.
COUTO SOARES, Maria Luísa, 2001, Conceito e sentido em Frege, Porto, Campo das Letras.
DUMMETT, M., 1993, Origins of Analytic Philosophy, Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press.
DUMMETT, M., 1973, Frege’s Philosophy of Language, London, Duckworth.
FREGE, G., Sense and Reference (Über Sinn und Bedeutung) in BEANEY 1997.
GAZZANIGA, M., IVTY, R. & MANGUN, G., 1998, Cognitive Neuroscience. The Biology of the Mind, New York, Norton.
GUTTENPLAN, Samuel (ed), 1994, A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind, Oxford, Blackwell.
HALE, Bob & WRIGHT, Crispin, 1997, A Companion to the Philosophy of Language, Oxford, Blackwell.
KRIPKE, Saul, 1982, Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language, Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press.
LOURENÇO, M.S, 1995, A Cultura da Subtileza - Aspectos da Filosofia Analítica, Lisboa, Colibri.
LYCAN, William, 1999, Philosophy of Language, London, Routledge.
MARTINICH, A.P. (ed), 1990, The Philosophy of Language, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
PINKER, Stephen, 1994, The Language Instinct, London, Penguin.
PUTNAM, Hilary, 1975, Philosophical Papers vol. II Mind Language and Reality, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
QUINE, W.V, 1990, Sobre o que há, in BRANQUINHO, João (ed), 1990, Existência e Linguagem - Ensaios de metafísica analítica, Lisboa, Presença.
RUSSELL, Bertrand, On Denoting (1905) in Logic and Knowledge-Essays 1901-1950, London, Allen & Unwin, 1956.
SCHILPP, P., 1963, The Philosophy of Bertrand Russell, The Library of Living Philosophers, Chicago, Open Court.
SLUGA, H. & STERN, D, 1996, The Cambridge Companion to Wittgenstein, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press
STILLINGS, N., WEISLER, S., CHASE, C., FEINSTEIN, M., GARFIELD, J. & RIESLAND, E., 1995, Cognitive Science - An Introduction, Cambridge MA, MIT Press
WITTGENSTEIN, L., 1987, Tratado Lógico-Filosófico, Lisboa, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.
WITTGENSTEIN, L., 1987, Investigações Filosóficas, Lisboa, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian.
ZILHÃO, António, 1993, Linguagem da Filosofia e Filosofia da Linguagem – Estudos sobre Wittgenstein, Lisboa, Colibri

Evaluation Type

Evaluation with final exam