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PHIL 620. Philosophy of Language. Quentin Smith Monday 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
This course discusses the most recent developments in the philosophy of language and its relation to metaphysics, specifically, the nature of time. Is the distinction between the past, present and future objective or mind-dependent? Can the structure of language enable this question to be answered?
We reject the “ordinary language analysis” school that expired in the 1960s and concentrate on the contemporary Direct Reference and Rigid Designation theory associated with the names of Kripke, Kaplan, Nathan Salmon and others. This philosophy of language typically involves the metaphysics of modal logic, often called “possible worlds metaphysics” and the associated metaphysics of essentialism. We study the argument that if we add extra evidence, e.g., from science and logic, then the nature of language indicates it is probably true that the past/present/future distinction is mind-independent and intrinsic to the universe. We also examine to the same extent the opposite argument that the nature of language indicates that the nature of language (and science and logic) indicates it is probably true that the past/present/future distinction is created by the human mind.
The course deals with the issue that has often been associated with analytic philosophy. Can the philosophy of language provide crucial (but not all) the premises to draw conclusions in the field of metaphysics?
Readings:
: Time, Tense and Reference, MIT Press. 2003. Ed A Jokic. An anthology of original essays by Nathan Salmon, Ernest LePore, Michael Tooley, L. Nathan Oaklander and others.
Language and Time, Oxford University Press. 1993, reprinted in 2002, Authored by Quentin Smith. This book provides an overview of the 20th century positions on language and time (mostly, from 1980 to early 1990) and argues for a certain position, that the nature of language, along with other evidence, makes it probable that the past, present and future are intrinsic to reality. We shall examine criticisms of these arguments, arguments for the opposite position, and the students’ task will be to come to their own conclusion about this issue.
Requirements: Summaries of readings. Final Paper, length approximately 15 pages and written in style of articles in philosophy journals. Relevant articles will be encouraged to be submitted to journals. |