PHL313 Philosophy of Language
Professor: Craig DeLancey
Office: CC217
Email: delancey@oswego.edu
Past Assignments
Part 1. Layout of the course. What is a Language? Is
language uniquely human?
Part 2. Reference. Frege's Distinctions. Meinong.
September 4.
A reading and homework.
Please read Frege's On Sense and Reference. An online
version is available here:
http://mind.ucsd.edu/syllabi/00-01/phil235/a_readings/frege_S&R.html.
This is an important work that introduces an important distinction
between sense and reference.
In your own words, (1) what are the puzzles with reference that
Frege believes need to solved; and (2) how does Frege solve them
with his distinction between sense and reference? Write this up
in a page (preferably typed) and hand it in at the beginning of
class.
You can focus on the first part of the essage -- say, up
to and including what is labeled as page 29 in the transcription
of the translation I've linked to above.
Part 2. Reference. Frege's Distinctions. Meinong.
Part 3. Reference. Descriptive Theory. Russell and Searle.
September 14
Please read Bertrand Russell's classic paper, "On
Denoting." This appeared in Mind, New Series,
Vol. 14, No. 56 (Oct., 1905), pp. 479-493.
From campus, you should be able to link directly to it via
JSTOR here. If that
doesn't work, you can log into JSTOR and use the reference
above. JSTOR is
here.
Less good of a version of this paper is here.
September 23
Give a Russell-style description for each of the following names
or natural kind terms (what Russell called, "general terms").
- Barak Hussein Obama
- Albert Einstein
- water
- horse
Part 4. Causal Theory. Externalism.
September 23, 25
Please read the selection from Kripke's lecture on the
causal theory.
October 9
Read the handout on Searle.
Part 5. Two Dimensionalism.
Part 6. Implications: reference and explanation.
October 14
Exam on reference. Short essay answers and perhaps some
multiple choice. Frege's puzzles for reference and his
solution. Russell's description theory, Kripke's Causal
Theory, Putnam's externalism, Searle's description theory.
Recognizing readings. Applying the theories.
The mean was: /80, with a standard deviation of .
Please note my way of grading is to be draconian
in the interests of being consistent, but then I
grade on a curve. So, approximately, the letter
ranges are: A , B , C , D or less .
I used the following key for my grading.
Question 1 or 2, on non-existent objects. A 4pts
for general account of Frege's position, B 4pts
for general account of Meinong's position, C 4pts
for general account of Russell's position; D, E, F
2 pts for their respective accounts of the definite
description; H and I 1 pt for Meinong and Russell's
views on the truth value of these sentences.
Question 2 or 1 on reference in Frege. A, B 5 points for
general description of the problem; C, D 3 points for
explaining clearly why it is perplexing for reference); E, F
2 pts for Frege's reasons why reference cannot explain
this (that is, clarifying the perplexity in terms of reference).
Question 3 or 3. A 7, B7, C6 points for Russell, Kripke,
Searle account.
Question 4 or 4. A, B, C, D 5 points for respective accounts.
16 October
Read the hyand-out of Saussure, Ayer, Quine.
Part 7. Early meaning accounts: structuralism, verificationism, behaviorism.
Saussure, Ayers, Quine.
26 October
A simple, short homework. Briefly -- this should only take about a single
page, attempt a schematic account of: (1) how Saussure might account for
the meaning of "blue" and of "water" -- specifically, what are the contrasting
meanings? (2) A verificationist account of "Water is blue." (3) Some
example positive and negative stimulus meanings as per Quine's theory,
for "this is water."
Part 8. SKEPTICAL CHALLENGE I. Inscrutability of Reference. Quine.
Part 9. Meaning. Meaning as Use. Wittgenstein.
26 October
Please read from Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations
the sections 1-43. I'll be very lonely if I alone read them, so expect
a spiteful quiz. Please also bring the text to class for the next
few weeks.
26 October
A simple, short homework. Briefly -- this should only take about a single
page, attempt a schematic account of: (1) how Saussure might account for
the meaning of "blue" and of "water" -- specifically, what are the contrasting
meanings? (2) A verificationist account of "Water is blue." (3) Some
example positive and negative stimulus meanings as per Quine's theory,
for "this is water."
26 October, 28 October
Please read from Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations
the sections 1-43. I'll be very lonely if I alone read them, so expect
a spiteful quiz. Please also bring the text to class for the next
few weeks.
Some things to think about include:
- What does W seem to mean by his analogy with tools?
- Are there meanings that are not expressed in uses?
- Do his illustrative examples lack something other
than complexity? That is, is the slab language (for example)
a language differing from English only in its complexity?
30 October
Please read from Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations
the sections 65-79.
Part 10. Meaning. Truth-based theory of meaning. Davidson.
Modal logic extension.
4 November
Read Donald Davidson's paper, "Truth
and Meaning." Bring your copy to class. It's hard but
my notes may give you a (fallible) perspective. (Sorry it's
so very big a scan file! The paper is short....)
November 11
Please read from PI, sections 80-88. Bring your
book to class.
November 13
Please read from PI, sections 143-147, 185-199.
Please bring your book to class.
Part 11. SKEPTICAL CHALLENGE II. Radical Conventionalism.
The Kripkenstein Paradox.
November 16
Please read from PI, sections
199-242. Please bring your book to class.
November 18
Please read the Kripke handout, and also from PI,
sections 258-268. Please bring your book to class.