This course is an introduction to the philosophy
of language. We will consider several interrelated
questions about language, meaning, and context,
including the following:
1. What distinguishes words from meaningless sounds
and squiggles, and what determines the specific
meaning of a word? Is it simply conventional that
a word has a particular meaning, or are there any
innate constraints on what words (or complex grammatical
like phrases or sentences) can mean? What role
(if any) do speakers’ intentions play in
determining what a word means?
2. How does the context of someone’s utterance
(i.e. who is talking, who is listening, what else
has just been said, what is common knowledge among
the speaker and listeners) help to determine the
meaning of that utterance? Is there anything systematic
or general that we can say about how context determines
what is meant?
II. Required Texts
1. William G. Lycan, Philosophy of Language:
a contemporary introduction. London and New York:
Routledge 2000
2. A.P. Martinich Philosophy of Language. 4th Edition.
New York: Oxford UP 2001.
3. Course Packet
