Philosophy of Language

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course is a study of the nature of meaning and reference from a philosophical perspective, focusing on the relationships among meanings, referents, properties, ideas, conventions, intentions, the uses of language and speech acts. Topics in reference, or how words refer (what Helen Keller finally realized) include names and descriptions, the distinction between sense and reference, the puzzle of non-referring terms, causal theories of reference. Topics in meaning include: the identification of meaning with truth conditions, the nature of propositions, theories of linguistic understanding, and the roles of mind and world in determining meaning, the distinction between meaning and implication, the roles of context and convention in language use, speaker meaning versus linguistic meaning and speech act theory.