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Philosophy of Language

Code: 100313 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Philosophy OB 3

Contact

Name:
Olga Fernandez Prat
Email:
olga.fernandez@uab.cat

Teachers

(External) Iván Redondo

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

There are not prerequisits.


Objectives and Contextualisation

General Objectives:

· Provide a solid foundation for the critical understanding of the main philosophical theories of language.

· Analyze the role of language in the constitution of thought, knowledge, and experience.

· Develop the ability to apply conceptual tools to interpret discourses, arguments, and linguistic practices in diverse contexts.

 

Specific Objectives:

· Understand the fundamental debates about meaning, reference, truth, and linguistic use.

· Analyze the contributions of analytic philosophy (Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, Austin, Grice, Searle, and Kripke) and post-structuralist critique (Derrida, Butler).

· Examine the relationship between language, subjectivity, and reality.

 

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

  1. Ability to maintain an appropriate conversation.
  2. Autonomously searching, selecting and processing information both from structured sources (databases, bibliographies, specialized magazines) and from across the network.
  3. Correctly, accurately and clearly communicating the acquired philosophical knowledge in oral and written form.
  4. Demonstrating a personal stance over a problem or controversy of philosophical nature, or a work of philosophical research.
  5. Distinguishing and outlining the fundamental content of a philosophical text.
  6. Engaging in debates about philosophical issues respecting the other participants' opinions.
  7. Explaining aspects of the history of philosophy by using the discipline's specific terminology.
  8. Explaining the specific notions of the History of Philosophy.
  9. Identifying the main ideas of a related text and drawing a diagram.
  10. Indicating and summarising the common content of several manifestations of various fields of culture.
  11. Producing an individual work that specifies the work plan and timing of activities.
  12. Reading basic philosophical text thoroughly.
  13. Recognising and implementing the following teamwork skills: commitment to teamwork, habit of cooperation, ability to participate in the problem solving processes.
  14. Recognising, with a critical eye, philosophical referents of the past and present and assessing its importance.
  15. Reflecting on their own work and the immediate environment's in order to continuously improve it.
  16. Relating elements and factors involved in the development of scientific processes.
  17. Rewriting the stance of a typical philosophical author in a clear and precise manner.
  18. Using specialized knowledge acquired in an interdisciplinary context when debating.
  19. Using suitable terminology when drawing up an academic text.

Content

Block 1. Language and Truth in Classical Thought

· Plato (Cratylus, Gorgias, and Sophist)

· Aristotle (De Interpretatione and Rhetoric)

Block 2. Language, Mind, and Representation in Modern Philosophy

Block 3. The Birth of Contemporary Philosophy of Language

· Frege and the sense/reference distinction

· Russell and definite descriptions

· Wittgenstein I: language as representation of the world

· Wittgenstein II: language games and social practice

Block 4. Pragmatics and Speech Acts

· Austin, Grice, and Searle

Block 5. Contemporary Critiques and Perspectives

· Kripke and the critique of the descriptive theory

· Derrida and Butler


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 two elements:

  1. Theoretical classes: These will consist of the professor’s presentation of the theoretical syllabus in class. Attendance is recommended but not mandatory.

  2. Practical classes: Commentary on texts distributed in class.

The theoretical and practical classes 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
Practic of text comment 20% 1 0.04 10, 2, 3, 18, 4, 5, 11, 7, 8, 9, 12, 1, 6, 14, 13, 17, 15, 16
Proof of theoretical questions. 40% 1 0.04 10, 2, 3, 18, 4, 5, 11, 7, 8, 19, 9, 12, 14, 17
Synthesis exam. 40% 1 0.04 10, 2, 3, 18, 4, 5, 8, 19, 9, 12, 6, 14, 17, 15, 16

Due to the nature of the course, evaluation is continuous and presupposes attendance in class and the completion of all assessable exercises. The final grade for the course will be the average of the scores obtained in the three assessable tests.

The evaluation activities will be as follows:

  • Multiple-choice or short-answer test on concepts.

  • Synthesis test.

  • Text commentary.

  • Reviews: Students will have the right to review all evaluative activities.

     

    Single evaluation

    The single evaluation will be organized using the same types of tests as the continuous evaluation and will take place during the same week.

    Make-up exams

    Make-up exams will follow the same format as continuous evaluation. Students may only take the make-up exam if they have obtained at least an average of 3.5.

    Non-assessable:
    A student will receive a “Non-assessable” grade if they have submitted less than 30% of the evaluation activities.

    The Department of Philosophy agreed that first-semester courses would have two concentrated periods of evaluative activities and one week in which students could specifically prepare for the tests, in the modality specified by each professor at the beginning of the course. The dates for the review week and the concentrated evaluation weeks are:

    • October 27–31: Review week or tutorials

    • November 3–7: Evaluation week

    • January 8, 9, 12, 13, 14: Evaluation week

    NOTES

    · Erasmus students requesting to take an exam earlier must present a written document from their home university justifying the request to the professor.

    · In case a student commits any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade of an evaluative act, that evaluative act will be graded as 0, regardless of any disciplinary procedures that may be initiated. If multiple irregularities occur in the evaluative acts of the same course, the final grade for that course will be 0.

    · The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is not allowed at any stage of this course. Any work that includes fragments generated with AI will be considered academic dishonesty and will result in a grade of 0 for the activity, which cannot be retaken, or more severe sanctions in serious cases.

     

     


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

Not necessary.


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Catalan first semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan first semester morning-mixed