PHL2120

Language, truth and power

Karen Green

8 points
* 3 hours per week
* First semester
* Clayton
* Prerequisites: A first-year sequence in philosophy or comparative literature, cultural studies and critical theory or linguistics

Objectives To provide an introduction to themes in the philosophy of language from both a continental and analytic perspective. Students should achieve a basic knowledge of the central works of those philosophers and linguists; for instance, Saussure, Frege, Russell, and Wittgenstein, whose concepts and arguments have had the greatest influence on current thinking about language. They should gain an understanding of structuralism, syntax, semantics, sense, reference, intension, extension, language games and analysis. They will have been introduced to a number of ways of answering the questions, `What is truth?', `How does language function?'. `Does language represent an independent reality?' and `What is meaning?' The somewhat historical orientation of the course should provide a substantial portion of the background required for understanding contemporary analytic and post-structuralist writing on language.

Synopsis The course will concentrate on two major approaches to the study of language. The structuralist approach which can be traced back to Saussure, and the referential realist approach which can be traced back to Frege. It will begin with an introduction to structuralism and the influence of anthropology on one popular strand of structualist thought. We will then move on to the referential semantics introudced by Frege and some of the criticisms that have been levelled against it, particulary those of Wittgenstein. Various views concerning truth will be discussed including the view that truth is correspondence with reality and the contrasting position that truth is power.

Assessment Two essays of 2500 words: 40% each
* Examination (1 hour): 20%
* Optional replacement of one essay by a 2-hour examination.

Prescribed texts

A collection of readings will be available from the department and on reserve in the Sir Louis Matheson Library