28002 - Philosophy of Language (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student achieves an average competence in the philosophy of contemporary language, with the in-depth study of a specific topic and the guided reading of a classic.

Course contents

Languages, representation and the structure of reality

Human languages are formidable tools that have provided an undisputed evolutionary advantage to our species. While linguistics studies the structure of natural languages, one of the traditional issues in the philosophy of language is to question the function of language and its conditions of possibility.

A controversial thesis, but one traditionally defended by many philosophers, is that language has a representational function aimed at representing the reality around us (truth-conditional theories of meaning are a paradigm in philosophy of language that has exemplified this thesis).

If there are conditions of possibility for a language to fulfil its representational function, there is in principle the possibility of different representational structures and thus the possibility of alien languages.

If alien languages are possible, then it is legitimate to ask which of the various possible languages is the best representational structure. For all we know, alien languages that use different semantic tools from those used by familiar languages could be representatively better than natural languages.

If, finally, alien languages were better than natural languages at representing reality, then reality could have an alien structure, which we may not even be able to conceive of, or at any rate one that is fundamentally different from what we usually conceive of.

In this course, we will address these issues in the light of the contemporary debate in analytical philosophy.

Q1) Is language an instrument for representing reality?

Q2) If a language represents reality, how do natural languages represent reality?

Q3) Are languages that represent reality in a way that is completely alien to natural languages possible? And what structures would these languages represent?

Course structure

In the course, these questions will be discussed in two stages: 

1. a number of texts on the notion of the structure of reality and the relationship between natural languages and reality will be analysed and discussed;
2. Matti Eklund's very recent book Alien Structure in which these questions are systematically addressed will be analysed.

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NOTE: this course has as its natural preparatory course the philosophy of language course that precedes it in Term III. Although it is not absolutely necessary to take the period III philosophy of language course in order to profitably follow this course, students who intend to use their free credits to choose the period III course will greatly benefit from taking this course more proficiently.

Readings/Bibliography

NOTE 1: all texts will be available online on Virtuale.
NOTE 2: all the selected texts are in English, this is because, as is the case in scientifically mature disciplines, the best contemporary literature in philosophy is published in English in specialised international journals.

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Ontology of natural language.
Moltmann, Friederike (2020). Natural Language Ontology (Routledge Handbook of Metametaphysics). In Ricki Bliss & James Miller (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Metametaphysics. New York, NY: Routledge. pp. 325-338.

Bach, Emmon & Chao, Wynn (2012). The Metaphysics of Natural Language (s). In Ruth M. Kempson, Tim Fernando & Nicholas Asher (eds.), Philosophy of linguistics. Boston: North Holland. pp. 175.

 

The Lewis-Sider notion of naturalness/structure
Lewis, David K. (1983). New work for a theory of universals. Australasian Journal of Philosophy 61 (4):343-377.

Sider, Theodore (2009). Ontological realism. In Ryan Wasserman, David Manley & David Chalmers (eds.), Metametaphysics: New Essays on the Foundations of Ontology. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. pp. 384--423.

Languages and alien structures

Eklund, Matti. (2024) Alien Structure, Oxford: University Press.

Teaching methods

Lessons

A detailed syllabus will be posted on Virtuale, in which the lectures with accompanying readings will be scheduled.

Methodologies

Each lesson will consist of a short introduction to the topic followed by a discussion involving all students.

Depending on the size of the class, during the lessons I will use the peer instruction method (if the class is large, see also the explanation in teaching methods in this course of mine) or the community of inquiry methodology (if the class is small) to directly involve the class group.

For these active teaching methods to work, the class group is required to read the compulsory readings assigned to each lesson in advance.

All texts will also be made available online on Perusall so that they can be discussed asynchronously before the lesson.

Assessment methods

Assessment during the course:

• collective reading of texts during the course via the social reading platform perusall.com
• comprehension questions using the peer instruction method during class.

NOTE: these tests will not be averaged but will be useful for attending students to consolidate the learning of the course topics.

Assessment during exam:

• essay writing
• oral test.

The length of the essay varies depending on whether you are attending or not.

ATTENDING STUDENTS short essay: at least 1500 words and no more than 3000 words (everything included: first name, surname, course of study, title, bibliography).

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS long essay: at least 3000 words and no more than 4000 words (all inclusive: first name, last name, freshman, course of study, title, bibliography).

Attendance or non-attendance will be determined on the basis of the continuity with which the students will participate in the tests during the course: an attending student must complete at least 70% of the assignments on perusall (the web address will be given at the beginning of the course).

VERIFICATION CRITERIA FOR THE EXAMINATION

I will use these verification criteria to determine the following evaluation thresholds:

30 and praise excellent proof, both in knowledge and in the critical and expressive articulation.

30 excellent test, complete knowledge, well articulated and correctly expressed, with some critical ideas.

27-29 good test, comprehensive and satisfactory knowledge, substantially correct expression.

24-26 discrete test, knowledge present in the substantial points, but not exhaustive and not always correctly articulated.

21-23 sufficient proof, knowledge present in a sometimes superficial way, but the general thread is understood. Short and often inappropriate and incomplete expression and articulation.

18-21 superficial knowledge, the common thread is not understood with continuity. The expression and the articulation of the discourse also have significant gaps.


<18 insufficient evidence, absent or very incomplete knowledge, lack of orientation in the discipline, defective and inappropriate expression. Examination not passed.

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders are entitled to special adjustments according to their condition, subject to assessment by the University Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD. Please do not contact teachers or Department staff, but make an appointment with the Service. The Service will then determine what adjustments are specifically appropriate, and get in touch with the teacher. For more information, please visit the page:

https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

Teaching tools

Virtuale, slide and handouts, Wooclap and Perusall (http://persuall.com) software for peer instruction.

Office hours

See the website of Sebastiano Moruzzi