Introduction � Meaning � Course Overview � Readings 2 & 3 Introduction � Readings 4–6 Introduction to the Philosophy of Language History Natural Languages Winter 2004 Formal Languages Comparison of Formal vs. Natural Languages Common Problems in the Erich Rast Philosophy of Language http://akira.ruc.dk/~erast/ Roskilde University erast@ruc.dk Introduction to the Philosophy of Language Overview - p. 1/41 Introduction to the Philosophy of Language Overview - p. 2/41 The big question: What is meaning? Course Overview � Session 1 Introduction Two main paradigms: � Session 2 Sense and Reference � Truth-Conditional Meaning Theory Introduction Introduction � Session 3 Proper Names and Rigid Designation � Meaning � Meaning “To understand a proposition means to know what is the case, � Course Overview � Course Overview � Session 4 Propositional Attitudes � Readings 2 & 3 � Readings 2 & 3 if it is true. (One can therefore understand it without knowing � Readings 4–6 � Readings 4–6 � Session 5 Speech Act Theory and Implicatures whether it is true or not.) One understands it if one understands History History � Session 6 Introduction to Formal Pragmatics its constituent parts.” (Wittgenstein, Tractatus Natural Languages Natural Languages logico-philosophicus, 4.024) Formal Languages Formal Languages � Representational Meaning Theory Textbook Lycan, William G.: Philosophy of Language. A contemporary Comparison of Formal vs. Comparison of Formal vs. Natural Languages Natural Languages introduction. Routledge. London, New York 2000. “. . . symbols and mental states both have representational Common Problems in the Common Problems in the content . . . . the main joint business of the philosophy of language Philosophy of Language Philosophy of Language and the philosophy of mind is the problem of representation. . . . How can anything manage to be about anything; and why is it that only thoughts and symbols succeed?” (Fodor, Psychosemantics, 1987, p xi) � This course will only cover truth-conditional approaches. Introduction to the Philosophy of Language Overview - p. 3/41 Introduction to the Philosophy of Language Overview - p. 4/41
Essential Readings Essential Readings Session 2: Reference Session 4: Propositional Attitudes � Frege (1892): On Sense and Reference . Russell (1905): On � Quine (1956): Quantifiers and Propositional Attitudes . Kripke (1979): A Introduction Introduction Denoting . Strawson (1950): On Referring . Puzzle about Belief . Burge (1979): Individualism and the Mental . � Meaning � Meaning � Course Overview � Course Overview � Chapter 1 and 2 of Lycan (2000) � Readings 2 & 3 � Readings 2 & 3 � Readings 4–6 � Readings 4–6 Session 5: Speech Act Theory and Implicatures History History Session 3: Reference (continued) � Austin (1962): Locutionary, Illocutionary, Perlocutionary . Strawson Natural Languages Natural Languages (1964): Intention and Convention in Speech Acts . Grice, Paul (1975): � Searle (1958): Proper Names. Kripke (1972): Naming and Necessity . Formal Languages Formal Languages Logic and Conversation . Levinson, Stephen C. (1983): Pragmatics. (excerpts) Comparison of Formal vs. Comparison of Formal vs. (excerpts) Natural Languages Natural Languages � Chapter 3 and 4 of Lycan (2000) � Chapter 12 and 13 of Lycan (2000) Common Problems in the Common Problems in the Philosophy of Language Philosophy of Language Session 6: Introduction to Formal Pragmatics � Stalnaker (1998): On the Representation of Context ; [Stalnaker (1974): Pragmatic Presupposition ; Stalnaker (1978): Assertion .] Introduction to the Philosophy of Language Overview - p. 5/41 Introduction to the Philosophy of Language Overview - p. 6/41 Historical Overview I � Frege (1848–1925) is often picked out as the founder (or grandfather) of analytical philosophy of language. � There is interaction and correspondence between the young Introduction Introduction Wittgenstein, Russell and Frege at the beginning of the 19th century. History History � Before WW2 � Before WW2 History � Historical Overview II � Historical Overview II � Apart from Russell and Frege, members of the Vienna Circle like Rudolf � After WW2 � After WW2 Carnap (from 1926), Moritz Schlick, Otto Neurath propagate a rigouros Natural Languages Natural Languages logical analysis of language. Formal Languages Formal Languages � After studying under Russell and Moore (1908-1912), and serving Comparison of Formal vs. Comparison of Formal vs. voluntarily for the Austrian army in WW1, Wittgenstein publishes the Natural Languages Natural Languages Tractatus with the help of Russell. He then associates with the Vienna Common Problems in the Common Problems in the Philosophy of Language Philosophy of Language Circle from 1922–1929. � The Vienna Circle also has contacts to the Lvov–Warsaw school of polish logicians who are also working on logical analysis of natural language: Ajdukiewicz, Kotarbinski, Bochenski, Lesniewski, Tarski. Introduction to the Philosophy of Language Overview - p. 7/41 Introduction to the Philosophy of Language Overview - p. 8/41
Historical Overview II Historical Overview III � During the 3rd Reich, many philosophers—like millions of other people as well—were either killed by the nazis (e.g. Kurt Grelling † 1941, Moritz Schlick † 1936), not allowed to teach or participate in cultural life (e.g. Introduction Introduction Husserl, † 1938), or were lucky to emmigrate soon enough (e.g. History History � Before WW2 � Before WW2 Carnap). � Historical Overview II � Historical Overview II � After WW2 � After WW2 � While Europe recovers from WW2, and German philosophers struggle Natural Languages Natural Languages with understanding the Holocaust, analytical philosophy of language is Formal Languages Formal Languages becoming stronger and stronger in the US/UK. (Also due to immigrants like Carnap, Tarski, and Gödel.) Comparison of Formal vs. Comparison of Formal vs. Natural Languages Natural Languages � “Linguistic Turn”: The beginnings of this paradigm are sometimes Common Problems in the Common Problems in the attributed to the 50ies of last century, but it actually starts with Russell, Philosophy of Language Philosophy of Language Frege, Wittgenstein, Vienna Circle, and British ordinary language philosophy of Austin and Strawson. � “Chomskian Revolution” in linguistics: In a variety of articles and books, Chomsky introduces formal grammar into linguistics, see e.g.“Logical Structure of Linguistic Theory” (1955), “Syntactic Structures” (1957). � Richard Montague (a scholar of Tarski) introduces a way of mapping syntactic surface structures into a formal semantic representation (Montague Grammar), see e.g. “The Proper Treatment of Quantification in Ordinary English” (1970, first published in 1973). Introduction to the Philosophy of Language Overview - p. 9/41 Introduction to the Philosophy of Language Overview - p. 10/41 What is a Language? Languages can roughly be sorted into the following categories: 1. Natural Languages Introduction Introduction (a) Spoken Natural Languages: English, French, Tagalog, Warlpiri, Ewe History History (b) Extinct Natural Languages: Ancient Greek, Linear B, Sanskrit Natural Languages Natural Languages Natural Languages 2. Artificial Languages � What is a Language? � What is a Language? � How Many? � How Many? (a) Constructed Languages: Esperanto, Solresol, Nevbosh, Klingon � How Many Speakers? � How Many Speakers? � Extinct Languages � Extinct Languages (b) Formal Languages: λ -Calculus, Predicate Logic, Scheme, ADA, � Typology I � Typology I � Typology II � Typology II HTML � Typology III � Typology III � Genetic Classification � Genetic Classification � Exkurs: ‘genetic’ � Exkurs: ‘genetic’ � This classification is problematic. For example: Esperanto is � Geographical Distribution � Geographical Distribution constructed, but also spoken. Predicate Logic and λ -Calculus could be Formal Languages Formal Languages regarded as a family of languages. Comparison of Formal vs. Comparison of Formal vs. Natural Languages Natural Languages � Natural Languages differ considerably from most artificial languages. Common Problems in the Common Problems in the Philosophy of Language Philosophy of Language Introduction to the Philosophy of Language Overview - p. 11/41 Introduction to the Philosophy of Language Overview - p. 12/41
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