Syllabus
(for a general course description, click here)

Date

Topic

Reading
orange=optional
Handouts & assignments

The Russellian view of meaning: motivations and problems

Tuesday, January 15 The theory of reference none The theory of reference
Why a theory of reference is not a theory of meaning
Thursday, January 17 Intensions & possible worlds semantics; the Kaplan semantics for indexicals

Kaplan, "Demonstratives"
Lewis, "General semantics"

Introduction to possible worlds semantics
Indexicality & double-indexing
Tuesday, January 22
Thursday, January 24
Fregean semantics and its problems Frege, "On sense and reference"
Frege, "On concept and object"
Kripke, Naming and Necessity, Lectures I & II
Introduction to Fregean semantics
5 problems for Fregean semantics

Tuesday, January 29
Thursday, January 31
Russell's early theory of propositions; three problems for Russell's early theory

King's neo-Russellian theory of propositions

Russell, Principles of Mathematics Ch. IV
Russell, "On the nature of truth and falsehood"
King, NSOC pp. 6-24
King, NSOC ch. 2

Russell's early theory of propositions and its discontents
Russell, King and the problem of the unity of the proposition
A sketch of two theories of propositions

Tuesday, February 5
Thursday, February 7
Russellianism & the problem of empty names

Braun, "Empty names"
Soames, Appendix on empty names
van Inwagen, "Creatures of fiction"
Braun, "Empty names, mythical names, fictional names"
Salmon, "Nonexistence"
Jeshion, Donnellan on Neptune"

The problem of empty names
What can a Millian say about empty names?
Tuesday, February 12
Thursday, February 14
"Existentialism" and Plantinga's problem

Plantinga, "On existentialism"
David, "Defending existentialism?"
Prior, "The possibly-true and the possible"
Adams, "Actualism and thisness"
Williamson, "Necessary existents"
Nelson & Fitch, "Singular propositions"

Plantinga's argument against existentialism
David, Buridan, and existentialism defended (! not ?)
Existentialism and truth conditions for modal propositions

Tuesday, February 19
Thursday, February 21
Presentism & Russellianism

Markosian, "A Defense of Presentism"
Sider, "Presentism and ontological commitment"
Crisp, "Presentism and the grounding objection"
Crisp, "Presentism and cross-time relations"
Brogaard, "Tensed relations"

The conflict between existentialism and presentism
Options for the existentialist who is also a serious presentist

Tuesday, February 26
Thursday, February 28
Frege's puzzle

Kripke, "A puzzle about belief"
Salmon, "How to become a Millian heir"
Soames, Beyond Rigidity (selection)
Caplan, "Millian descriptivism"
Fodor, "Substitution arguments and the individuation of beliefs"

Frege's problem(s) and the Fregean solutions
Conciliatory vs. unrepentant Millianism
March 4 & 6: spring break

The foundations of meaning


Tuesday, March 11 Semantics, pragmatics, & Millianism, one last time none The problem of conflicting restrictions
An argument against descriptive Millianism

Thursday, March 13
Tuesday, March 18
The problem of the foundations of meaning

Kripke, Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language (excerpt)
Soames, "Skepticism about meaning: normativity, indeterminacy, and the rule-following paradox"

Kripke's skeptical paradox
More replies to Kripke's problem

Thursday, March 20 Class cancelled
Tuesday, March 25 Is meaning normative? none The normativity of content and "the Frege point"
Thursday, March 27
Tuesday, April 1

Mentalist theories I: Intention

Grice, "Utterer's meaning and intention"
Grice, "Meaning"
Borg, "Intention-based semantics"

Grice on meaning, speaker-meaning, and intention
Davis' neo-Gricean theory
An alternative view of the relationship between meaning and speaker-meaning
Tuesday, April 3
Tuesday, April 8

Mentalist theories II: Belief

Lewis, "Languages and Language" Explaining the disquotational principle
Lewis on convention and meaning
Thursday, April 10
Tuesday, April 15
Thursday, April 17
Use theories of meaning Horwich, "A use theory of meaning" Horwich's use theory of meaning
Two kinds of supervenience
Tuesday, April 22
Introduction vs. transmission of meaning Kripke, Naming and Necessity, Lectures I & II Sketch of a theory of meaning
Random end of semester topics
Thursday, April 24 Vagueness none Solutions to the sorites paradox
Tuesday, April 29 Context-sensitivity none How do I tell whether an expression is an indexical?