Philosophy of Language
Code: 100313 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2500246 Philosophy | OB | 3 |
Contact
- Name:
- Oriol Farres Juste
- Email:
- oriol.farres@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
There are not prerequisits.
Objectives and Contextualisation
The objective of this subject is to introduce students to some of the most central questions of current philosophy from the perspective of the philosophical study of language.
Competences
- Act within one's own area of knowledge, evaluating sex/gender-based inequalities.
- Analysing and summarising the main arguments of fundamental texts of philosophy in its various disciplines.
- Recognising and interpreting topics and problems of philosophy in its various disciplines.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
- Thinking in a critical and independent manner on the basis of the specific topics, debates and problems of philosophy, both historically and conceptually.
Learning Outcomes
- Ability to maintain an appropriate conversation.
- Autonomously searching, selecting and processing information both from structured sources (databases, bibliographies, specialized magazines) and from across the network.
- Correctly, accurately and clearly communicating the acquired philosophical knowledge in oral and written form.
- Demonstrating a personal stance over a problem or controversy of philosophical nature, or a work of philosophical research.
- Distinguishing and outlining the fundamental content of a philosophical text.
- Engaging in debates about philosophical issues respecting the other participants' opinions.
- Explaining aspects of the history of philosophy by using the discipline's specific terminology.
- Explaining the specific notions of the History of Philosophy.
- Identifying the main ideas of a related text and drawing a diagram.
- Indicating and summarising the common content of several manifestations of various fields of culture.
- Producing an individual work that specifies the work plan and timing of activities.
- Reading basic philosophical text thoroughly.
- Recognising and implementing the following teamwork skills: commitment to teamwork, habit of cooperation, ability to participate in the problem solving processes.
- Recognising, with a critical eye, philosophical referents of the past and present and assessing its importance.
- Reflecting on their own work and the immediate environment's in order to continuously improve it.
- Relating elements and factors involved in the development of scientific processes.
- Rewriting the stance of a typical philosophical author in a clear and precise manner.
- Using specialized knowledge acquired in an interdisciplinary context when debating.
- Using suitable terminology when drawing up an academic text.
Content
The philosophy of language is concerned with a large number of topics, such as: meaning, notions of reference and truth, the semantics of various linguistic constructions, epistemological and ontological issues related to language, the relation of language with the thought, the relation of the language and the extramaringuistic reality, the acts of speech, the regulation of the communicative interchanges, the figurative use of the language, the use of the language to the fiction, etc. Since it is not possible to address all these questions in an introductory course, the course will focus on some of the topics that are most relevant in recent philosophical research on language and the far-reaching consequences in other areas of philosophy .
In this course it is intended that the student become familiar with the most important concepts and theoretical proposals developed in the field of language philosophy. In this way the different theses on language will be exposed, identifying the philosophers who have generated them and explaining the role each thesis plays in their work. The course will be an introduction to a series of authors whose considerations on the nature of language are fundamental to the contemporary era and form the basis of the linguistic turn in philosophy. At the end of the course the student must know the most representative theses of these philosophers, properly understand the arguments and know the types of objections and drawbacks that these theses present.
- Basic concepts of the philosophy of language.
- Frege: sense and reference.
- Bertrand Russell and the logicist program.
- Logic and language in the first Wittgenstein.
- Meaning as use in Wittgenstein.
- Quine: semantic skepticism and linguistic behaviorism.
- Philosophy of language in dialogue with other academic disciplines.
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Text comments | 19 | 0.76 | 5, 9, 12, 14 |
| Exposition of concepts and theories. | 30 | 1.2 | 9, 14 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Clarification of doubts. | 23 | 0.92 | 5, 9, 12, 14, 15 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Study of the concepts and theories introduced in class. | 50 | 2 | 5, 11, 9, 12, 14 |
| Readings of selected texts and review writing | 25 | 1 | 5, 9, 12 |
It consists of three elements:
1. Theoretical classes: They will consist of the classroom exposition by the teacher of the theory. Attendance is recommended although it is not mandatory.
2. Practical classes: Commentary of distributed texts in the classroom. The teacher will post texts on the virtual campus that the student must read to comment on the established days.
3. Student's work: Students must complete a series of lectures proposed by the teacher outside the lecture hours. They must also submit two reviews of the different texts covered in class. They will be delivered the day of the written test.
The theoretical classes and the practices will alternate throughout the course.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Practices of text comments | 10% | 1 | 0.04 | 10, 2, 3, 18, 4, 5, 11, 7, 8, 9, 12, 1, 6, 17, 13, 14, 15, 16 |
| Proof of theoretical questions 1 and 2 | 50% | 1 | 0.04 | 10, 2, 3, 18, 4, 5, 11, 7, 8, 19, 9, 12, 17, 14 |
| Review 1 and 2 | 40% | 1 | 0.04 | 10, 2, 3, 18, 4, 5, 8, 19, 9, 12, 6, 17, 14, 15, 16 |
The evaluation is continued and presupposes the attendance in class and the realization of all the evaluable exercises. The final grade of the subject will be the average of the scores obtained in the four evaluable tests. During the recovery period, a final exam will be scheduled. Those people who, having obtained a grade equal to or greater than 3, have not reached a score of 5 in the continuous assessment or want to upload a grade may take this exam. Your final grade will be the grade obtained in this final test. The rest will be evaluated with a Suspense.
- Written test of block 1. This block is made up of topics 1 to 4.
- Written test of block 2. This block is made up of topics 4 to 8.
- Participation in class of the texts provided by the teacher.
- Delivery of two written reviews in the assessment tests.
Unique assessment
The single assessment will be organized based on three tests that will take place during the same week. The evidence for each test is as follows:
A review of those developed by the continuous assessment on a compulsory reading 40%
A comment on a text presented in class 30%
A written exam 30%
recovery
To take part in the recovery, the student must have previously been assessed in a set of activities whose weight is equivalent to a minimum of 2/3 parts of the total qualification (CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT) or hand in all the scheduled tests (SINGLE EVALUATION).
At the time of carrying out each assessment activity, the teacher will inform the students (Moodle) of the procedure and the date of review of the qualifications.
The student will receive the grade of "Not assessable" as long as he has not delivered more than 1/3 of the assessment activities.
- Written tests and reviews: the teacher will establish a review day to comment on the mark obtained in these activities.
- Text comments in class: the teacher will establish a review day to comment on the mark obtained from these activities.
Bibliography
Tomasini Bassols A. (1986) , Los atomismos Lógicos de Russell y Wittgenstein, UAM,
Valdés , L (ed) (1993) La búsqueda del significado, Madrid, Tecnos.
Acero JJ (1985), Filosofía y análisis del lenguaje, Madrid, Cincel.
García Suárez (1997), Modos de significar, Una introducción temática a la filosofia del lenguaje, Madrid, Tecnos.
Anscombe, G. E. M (2001) An introduction to Wittgenstein's Tractatus. St Augustine Pr Inc.
Bordes, M. (2011) Las trampas de Circe. Falacias Lógicas y argumentación informal. Cátedra.
Monk, R. (2016) Wittgenstein. Anagrama
Pérez Otero, Manuel. Aproximació a la filosofia del llenguatge. Edicions Universitat de Barcelona, 2001/2008.
Pears. D. (1973) Wittgenstein. Barcelona: Grijalbo .
Valdés Villanueva, L. (2005) La búsqueda del significado: Lecturas de Filosofía del Lenguaje. Barcleona: Tecnos.
Wittgenstein. L. (1981) Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. Barcelona: Editorial Laia. Traducció de Josep Maria Terricabras
—(1987) Investigacions Filosofiques. Barcelona: Edicions 62. Traducció de Josep Maria Terricabras.
Software
no.
Language list
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | Spanish | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Spanish | first semester | morning-mixed |