Philosophy of Language
PHIL 147
Subject & Catalog Number
Course Information
Description
This course is an introduction to the philosophy of language. We’ll cover major topics that have shaped the philosophical study of language into the present and that have also become key resources in philosophy more generally: compositionality, meaning, pragmatics, context-sensitivity, speech acts, and reference. If you don’t know what any of these words mean, don’t worry, that’s what the course is for. So let me describe the course in a different way. It’s a central fact about language that we can use language to communicate about the world around us. That has two implications: language is about the world. How does that happen? After all, there are lots of human cultural achievements, such as music, that aren't about the world. Second, in order to communicate, a hearer must be able to figure out what a speaker is trying to get across to them, just on the basis of the words used. So there must be some pretty clear rules for how to connect words with meanings. But if you’ve ever tried programming, you know how incredibly constraining it is to have set rules about how to use expressions. It’s super hard to get a computer to do anything, and there’s a lot of stuff you can’t tell it. Human language is incredibly flexible. So how can language be so flexible while also being rule based? In one form or another, the philosophical work we discuss in the course addresses itself to these two broad concerns: how language is about the world, and how to reconcile rules and flexibility in language use.
Course Notes
Students will receive comprehensive lecture materials for asynchronous study, and class time will be spent reviewing, deepening, and expanding on these lecture notes through seminar style discussion.
Class Notes
Depending on enrollment, there may be a required section. For now, students should enroll in an unscheduled placeholder section. While the course has no formal prerequisites, philosophy of language can be quite abstract and students should have some prior exposure to philosophy. Enrolling in PHIL 4 at the same time is helpful but not required.
Available for Harvard Cross Registration
NOTE: This course requires additional sections; you will be prompted to choose secondary components during the Add to Cart process
