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The Nature of Language Genoveva Martí |
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The Nature of Language Genoveva Martí |
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Contact
Departament Dept. de Lňgica, Histňria i Filosofia de la Cičncia Facultat de Filosofia, Montalegre 6, 08001 Barcelona
Office hours by appointment
Language English
Objectives This course aims at providing an in-depth introduction to some fundamental issues in the theory of meaning. It touches on aspects of interest to philosophers, psychologists and linguists, although it is definitely a course in the Philosophy branch of the Language and Cognitive Science Program, so its primary focus is on philosophically relevant aspects of the discussions. In 2008-09 the focus of the course will be a discussion of the role of empirical data on the theory of meaning and on hypotheses about language-knowledge and language-acquisition.
Structure Part I – Meaning and Experience 1.- A naive approach to meaning: Locke. 2.- The descriptivist approach. Frege and Russell. 3.- The arguments against descriptivism: Kripke, Donnellan and Putnam. 4.- How to adjudicate. The role of intuitions and empirical data. Part II – Knowledge of Language 1.- Chomsky’s innatism. 2.- First criticisms. The Chomsky-Putnam debate. 3.- The Poverty of Stimulus Argument. 4.- Empiricist and rationalist models of learning.
Methodology Lectures with time devoted to discussion. We will devote approximately seven of the lectures to the first part of the course and five to the second lectures to the second. There will be exercises for practice given at almost every lecture. These are not for credit, but students are strongly encouraged to do them, as the exercises for credit will be similar. Readings will be available as Electronic Dossiers via the Philosophy Library of the UB. Students should make sure they have access (they may need a letter from their coordinator –ask the Library Information Desk about details).
Evaluation Two sets of exercises (one for each part). The sets will consist of questions and topics for short essays. The first set will be distributed at the end of the first part. The second set will be distributed at the end of the course. Both sets of exercises are due when the second semester ends. according to the UB calendar.
Bibliography This is just an indicative list. Specific readings will be assigned in each class. * J. Locke: An essay Concerning Human Understanding. Dover. * G. Frege: ‘On Sense and Reference’ in Beany, Michael: The Frege Reader. Blackwell, and other anthologies. * S. Kripke: Naming and Necessity. Harvard University Press. * K. Donnellan. ‘Proper Names and Identifying Descriptions’ Synthese, 1970. * H.Putnam: ‘Meaning and Reference’ in Schwartz, S.P.: Naming, Necessity and Natural Kinds. Cornell University Press. * Machery, E. et al.: ‘Semantics Cross-Cultural Style’. Cognition 2004. * Marti, G.: ‘Against Semantic Multi-Culturalism’. Analysis 2009.
* Chomsky, N: Aspects of the Theory
of Syntax. MIT Press. * Pinker, S.: The Language Instinct. How the Mind Creates Language. Penguin. * Laurence, S. & Margolis, E,: ‘The Poverty of the Stimulus Argument’. British Jnl for the Philosophy of Science, 2001: 217-276. * Cowie, F.: What’s Within. Nativism Reconsidered. Oxford University Press, 2002 * Fodor, J.: ‘Doing Without What’s Within’. The Philosophical Review, 2001. * Devitt, M.: Knowledge of Language. Oxford UP, 2008. |
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