College Bulletin 2014-2015 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
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PHIL 026. Language and Meaning
Language is an excellent tool for expressing and communicating thoughts. You can let your friend know that there will probably be fewer than 25 trains from Elwyn to Gladstone next Wednesday-but could you do this without using language? (have you tried?) Even more interesting is the question how you can do this using language. How can the sounds I produce or the marks that I leave on this sheet of paper be about the dog outside chasing the squirrel? How can words refer to things and how can sentences be true or false? Where does meaning come from? Philosophy has dealt with such questions for a long time but it was only a bit more than 100 years ago that these questions have taken center stage in philosophy. We will read and discuss such more recent authors, starting with Frege, Russell and Wittgenstein and leading up to authors like Austin, Quine, Kripke and Putnam.
Prerequisite: First- and second-year students must complete one course in PHIL 001 -PHIL 010 , or PHIL 012 , before enrolling in this course.
Eligible for COGS credit.
(Cross-listed as LING 026 )
1 credit.
Fall 2014. Baumann.
http://www.swarthmore.edu/philosophy
Philosophy
Access the class schedule to search for sections.
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