Academic management

“Meaning and Communication” is the second of two courses on Philosophy of Language included in the Philosophy Degree offered by the University of Oviedo. It is taught in the third year and it is a core course. Its character is essentially theoretical and will be held during the first term of the academic year.

The scope and range of questions explored in this course are wide and open. They involve problems of epistemological, metaphysical, logical and methodological character concerning language, meaning and communication, and concerning also the theories one may propose to try to best explain and understand those phenomena.

3. Course Prerequisites

There are no special requirements for taking this course other than just the general requirements for enrolling in the third year of the “Degree in Philosophy” of the University of Oviedo (RD 1892/2008, November 14th). However, it is very highly recommended to have previously passed the course “Language, Thought and Reality”, offered in the second year of the degree. Also, it would help to have previously passed the introductory course in logic, “Lógica elemental”, offered in the first year of the degree.

4. Competences and Results of Learning

This course is designed to enable students to obtain the following kinds of ability: a) cognitive abilities, including knowledge of the main philosophical theories about central concepts and linguistic mechanisms such as meaning, reference, predication, proposition, truth, necessity or propositional attitude; b) instrumental abilities, including some degree of skill in the conceptual analysis of language and its application to the study of philosophical texts; c) critical abilities, including the use of concepts and techniques proper to the philosophy of language for the evaluation of problems, concepts and theories in several philosophical disciplines such as metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, etc; d) communicative abilities, including: the capacity of both to transmit and evaluate logico-philosophical contents directed at professional audiences and to communicate in non specialized environments; d) research abilities, including: acquaintance with the main techniques and tools of philosophical data and some degree of skill in philosophical writing.

5. Course Contents

0. Introduction

1. Meaning and  verification

2. Semantical skepticism in Quine

3.Semantical skepticism in Kripke

4. Meaning and communicative intentions

5. Meaning and truth conditions

6. Semantics and metaphysics

6. Methodology and Workload

For each of the topics covered by the Contents of the course, there will be a combination of expository lectures and discussion sessions. The latter will include informal presentations carried out by the students. The questions open to discussion will stem from material treated and explained in the lectures and, by and large, they will provide the base for the papers which students are required to write. Tutorial meetings will be held periodically to encourage students to exchange information and to deal with doubts and difficulties arisen during their work in progress. Those students who cannot regularly attend classes will receive specific bibliographic information so that they be able to prepare and carry out the work required in the course.

Exceptionally, if the sanitary conditions so require it,teaching activities of a not presential character may be included. In that case, students will be informed about the changes made..

7. Evaluation of the student's learning results

1. Final written exam covering the topics dealt by in lectures, seminars and recommended readings of the course (50% of total grade).

2. Evaluation of submitted papers. Features such as clarity, rigor and coherence of exposition, along with philosophical interest and level of difficulty of the selected topics, will be specially appreciated. Papers are due the last day of classes  (40% of total grade).

3. Evaluation of performance in seminars and lectures taking into account the more or less active role played in discussions and informal presentations (10% of total grade).

Those students who cannot regularly attend classes will be evaluated attending to their performance both in the final exam (60% of total grade) and in their submitted papers (40 % of total grade).

Evaluation for students who have been granted specific evaluation (evaluación diferenciada): Students belonging to this category will be required to pass a final written exam (100% of total grade).

The points above refer to the ordinary evaluation, completed at the end of the 1st semester. Extraordinary evaluations (May, June) will consist in a written exam covering the contents of the subject (100% of total grade).

Exceptionally, if the sanitary conditions so require it, evaluation methods of a not presential character may be included. In that case, students will be informed about the changes made.

Bibliographical References and Other Sources of Information

References and other resources presented below are general and illustrative. Additional bibliography will be given during the course.

Textbooks:
Hierro Sánchez-Pescador, J., Principios de filosofía del lenguaje, 2 vols., Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1982.
Acero, J.J, Bustos, E. y Quesada, D., Introducción a la filosofía del lenguaje, Madrid: Cátedra,1982.
García-Carpintero, M., Las palabras, las ideas y las cosas: una presentación de la filosofía del lenguaje, Barcelona: Ariel, 1996.
García Suárez, A., Modos de significar: una introducción temática a la filosofía del lenguaje, Madrid: Tecnos, 1997.
Bustos Guadaño, E. Filosofía del lenguaje, Madrid: UNED, 1999.

Devitt, M. & Sterelny, K., Language and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Language, MIT Press, 1989.

Lycan, W., Philosophy of Language: A Contemporary Introduction, Routledge, 2000.

McGinn, C. (2015), Philosophy of Language. The classics Explained; Cambridge, Mass., The MIT Press

Miller, A., Philosophy of Language, McGill-Queen's University Press, 1998.

Morris, M., An Introduction to the Philosophy of Language Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Soames, S., Philosophy of Language, Princeton U. P., 2010.

Essay collections:

Ludlow, P. (ed.), Readings in the Philosophy of Language, MIT Press,1997.
Martinich, A., (comp.), The Philosophy of Language, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Valdés Villanueva, L. M., (comp.), La búsqueda del significado: lecturas de filosofía del lenguaje, Madrid: Tecnos, 4ª edición, 2005.

Essay collections on analytic philosophy:
Ayer, A.J., (comp.), El positivismo lógico, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1965.
Muguerza, J., (comp.), La concepción analítica de la filosofía, 2 vols., Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1974.

History of analytic philosophy:
Passmore, J. Cien años de filosofía, Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1984.
Passmore, J. Recent Philosophers: A Supplement to ‘A Hundred Years of Philosophy’, Londres: Duckworth, 1985.
Soames, S., Philosophical Analysis in the XX. Century, 2 vols., Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005, 2 vols.

Soames, S., The Analytic Tradition in Philosophy, Vol 1: Founding Giants, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014.

Soames, S., The Analytic Tradition in Philosophy, Vol 2: A New Vision, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018.
Soames, S., Analytic Philosophy in America, and other Historical and Contemporary Essays, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014.

Companions:

García-Carpintero  & Kolbel (eds.), The Continuum Companion to the Philosophy of Language, Continuum P.C., 2012.
Hale, B. y Wright, C., (comps.), A Companion to the Philosophy of Language, Oxford:Blackwell, 1997. Nivel avanzado.1997.
Devitt, M. y Hanley, R., (comps.), The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Language, Oxford: Blackwell, 2006. Intermediate level.

Lepore, E. and Smith, B. C. (2008), The Oxford Companion to the Philosophy of Language, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Pérez Chico, David (coord.), Perspectivas en la filosofía del lenguaje,  Zaragoza: Prensas Universitarias de Zaragoza, 2013.
Russell, G. y Graff Fara, D. (eds.), Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Language, Routledge 2011.

Encyclopedias:
Edwards, P., (comp.), The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 8 vols., Nueva York: Macmillan, 1967. (Supplement, 1996.). Advanced level.
Urmson, J.O., (comp.), Enciclopedia concisa de filosofía y filósofos, Madrid: Cátedra, 1979. Introductory level.
Blackburn, S., The Oxford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. Introductory level.
Craig, E., (comp.), The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Londres: Routledge, 1998.

Internet resources:
Honderich, T., (comp.), Enciclopedia Oxford de Filosofía, 2001.Intermediate level.
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (www.iep.utm.edu). Intermediate level .
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (https://plato.stanford.edu/). Advanced level.