LOGICAL SEMIOTICS
Tentative Schedule & Core papers
Rules of Assessment
(1) Characteristics of Philosophy of Language: elementary terminology, fundamental issues, methods.
Devitt & Hanley - Fundamental Issues in the Philosophy of Language; Loar - Language, Thought and Meaning
(2) Philosophy of Language before Frege: what does language consist of and what does language express? - Mill’s theory of names; explanation of the notion of ”proposition” (Bolzano, Moore, Russell)
Mill - Of Names
(3)-(4) What’s the difference between ’’Mount Everest” and ”Chomolungma”? - Frege’s theory of sense and reference
Frege - On Sense and Reference
(5) Is the present king of France bold? - Russells’s Theory of Descriptions
Russell - Descriptions
(6) ”The present king of France is bald” is neither false….nor true! - Strawson’s arguments against Russell’s theory
Strawson - On Referring
(7) Can Donald Trump become the reference of ”the present king of France”? - Donnellan’s attributive-referential distinction
Donnellan - Reference and Definite Descriptions
(8) What requirements do you have to meet to refer to Plato with the name 'Plato'? - Searle’s Descriptivism
Searle - Proper Names
(9)-(13) Possible worlds, identity, Descriptivism rejected, causal chains theory, theoretical identities, mind-body problem solved, and a lot more - Kripke’s ’'Naming and Necessity'.
Kripke - Naming and Necessity
(14) Using proper names is not a magical trick! - Evans against Kripke, Evans’s Hybrid theory of proper names
Evans - The Causal Theory of Names
The final grade is evaluated as:
0,7x final-exam-grade + 0,3x participation-grade.
FINAL EXAM
The final exam takes place at the end of the semester and it concerns all the topics discussed during the semester. It is written and has a mixed form of open and closed questions.
PARTICIPATION
Participation-grade reflects student's activity during discussions. The grade is updated after every class and students can follow their grades on their USOS accounts.
Students who do not find themselves well in discussions can fulfill this requirement and receive ’’participation-grade” by giving a short presentation concerning paper / topic designated by the tutor.
ABSENCES
Every student can - for any reason - miss three classes during the semester without any consequence. Every absence above that limit results in reducing student's final exam result by 10%.
practical information
On this website you can also find:
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TIMETABLE - includes title of the paper you are supposed to read for a given class as well as range of topics for a given quiz. In case of cancelling a class the relevant information also is announced in the timetable.
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RESOURCES - all the papers and some extra stuff that is necessary or may be useful
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in case of problems with getting access please read: ,,Access to the resources manual"
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