Philosophy of Language

Code:

FILO014

Acronym:

FILLIN

Instance: 2014/2015 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Philosophy
Course/CS Responsible:	Bachelor in Philosophy

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
FILO	40	FILO - Study Plan	3	-	6	4

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

The main objective of this course is to provide an introduction to the themes of sense and reference and, more generally, the relationship between language, thought and the world in philosophy of language. To achieve this objective, students will study the main authors in the history of philosophy of language since late 19th century to mid 20th century, namely Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein. A further objective is to explore of the history of philosophy of language in this period in order to recognise how contemporary problems take root therein. This should also help students understand the relation between philosophy of language and the history of analytic philosophy Since philosophy of language is central in early analytic philosophy, a large part of the couse focuses on that period, and on close reading of texts (Part II). The course begins, though, with an overview of sciences of language (Part I) and in Part III a reference is made to approaches to language in other philosophical traditions.

Learning outcomes and competences

Upon sucessful completion of this course, students should be able to:
- Compare and contrast topics in sciences of language with topics in philosophy of language.
- Discuss approaches of sense and reference, and in general, of language-thought-world relations, in the works of Frege, Russell and Wittgenstein.
- Characterize non-analytic approaches to language.

Working method

Presencial

Program

PART I - Philosophy of language and sciences of language

Syntax, semantics, pragmatics. Natural languages and formal languages. Competence and performance. Use and mention. Sentence, proposition, utterance. Paraphrase. Ambiguity. Aphasia. Noam Chomsky: a revolution in Linguistics. Brain and language. Human language and animal languages. The perspective of psycholinguistics: mental lexicon, semantic networks, models of production and understanding of speech.

PART II - Sense and reference in the history of philosophy of language

1. G. Frege: from the general philosophical project to Über Sinn und Bedeutung. The Begriffsschrift and the formulation of the Context Principle (Foundations of Arithmetic). Close Reading Über Sinn und Bedeutung (1892). Frege’s puzzle. Sense and reference of singular terms, simple sentences, complex sentences.

2. B. Russell: from logical atomism to the Theory of Descriptions. The difference between ‘refer’ and ‘denote’: close reading of On Denoting (1905). Frege and Russell, ontology and epistemology: a comparison.

3. L. Wittgenstein. 3.1 A theory of language as model (Bild): close Reading of the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. The status of logic and of the philosophical subject in the Tractatus. 3.2 The meaning of use: a study of the Philosophical Investigations (1953). Private language. Following rules. Pluralism and pragmatism.

4. Philosophy of language after Wittgenstein. Ordinary language philosophy. W. V. Quine and D. Davidson’s programmes. Metaphor: the nature of non-literal meaning. 

PART III - Non-analytic approaches language

The status of language in the philosophy of Heidegger, Habermas, Foucault and Derrida.

Mandatory literature

Lycan, William G; Philosophy of language. ISBN: 0-415-17116-4
Miguens, Sofia; Filosofia da linguagem. ISBN: 978-972-8932-28-2
Frege, Gottlob, 1848-1925; Lógica e filosofia da linguagem. ISBN: 978-81-314-1180-9
Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 1889-1951; Tratado lógico-filosófico
Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 1889-1951; Philosophical investigations
Martinich, A. P. 340; The^philosophy of language. ISBN: 0-19-513543-1
Fromkin, Victoria; An^introduction to language. ISBN: 0-03-018682-X
Dummett, Michael; The origins of analytic philosophy, Cambridge MA, Harvard University Press, 1993

Complementary Bibliography

Gazzaniga, Michael; Cognitive Neuroscience, New York, Norton, 1998
Pinker, Stephen; The Language Instinct, London, Penguin, 1994
Chomsky, Noam, 1928-; Knowledge of language
Hale, Bob 340; A^companion to the philosophy of language. ISBN: 0-631-16757-9
Editor: Edward ZALTA; The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy http.//plato.stanford.edu), The Metaphysics Research Lab Center for the Study of Language and Information Stanford University Stanford

Teaching methods and learning activities

Lectures; close reading of fundamental texts.

keywords

Humanities > Philosophy > Semiotics
Humanities > Philosophy > Logic
Humanities > language sciences > Linguistics

Evaluation Type

Evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	100,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	108,00
Frequência das aulas	54,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

According to the regulations in force.

Calculation formula of final grade

Final exam.

Examinations or Special Assignments

Not applicable.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

In accordance with the Regulations in force.

Classification improvement

In accordance with the Regulations in force.