Writing Philosophy: Paradoxes of Meaning

Undergraduate

How do words get their meaning, and are there facts about meaning at all? When we speak a language, could what we mean be completely indeterminate? This course explores paradoxes at the heart of language, from vagueness and the ancient Sorites paradox to influential arguments by Kripke and Quine that challenge whether there are facts which fix what we mean by words. Along the way, we will examine contemporary debates about whether meaning is determined by how we in fact use words or whether meaning determines how we should use words, whether AI-generated language is genuinely meaningful, and how to overcome radical meaning scepticism. As a Writing in the Disciplines course, students will develop their skills of philosophical writing by engaging with some of the clearest and most provocative writing on some of the fundamental questions in philosophy of language. Using a range of classic and contemporary work, students will practice how to turn philosophical puzzles into structured arguments, how to reconstruct and evaluate complex arguments, how to watch out for and frame controversial assumptions, and how to develop their own ideas into a sustained philosophy paper. There are no specific prerequisites but a previous philosophy course would be helpful. HU MW 2:35pm-3:50pm