HISTORY OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE

The course is included among the core educational activities of the Bachelor Degree Programme in Philosophy and belongs to the subject area of the History of Philosophy. Thus, the course meets the need of enhancing the historico-philosophical curriculum by introducing students to the study of topics and problems that were relevant also to the philosophical debates of past ages and not only after the so-called linguistic turn in the twentieth century.
The objectives of the course are the following: acquisition of basic knowledge concernig linguistic and communicative phenomena; acquisition of knowledge concerning the main topics of philosophico-linguistic investigation both in the past and presently; acquisition of in-depth knowledge about the history of the theories developed to explain linguistic facts and especially the fundamental semantic properties such as meaning and truth; mastery of the philosophico-linguistic vocabulary and its historical evolution; improvement of the ability to understand philosophical works of the past by framing them in their historical and theoretical context; development of the ability to interpret contemporary debates on philosophico-linguistic issues by connecting them to their historical roots.
Thus, the course contributes to the achievement of the educational aims of the bachelor degree programme and of the subject area both in terms of knowledge acquisition and in terms of development of skills and competences. As regards historico-philosophical knowledge, the course contributes in particular to the knowledge of the modern and contemporary thought, since it provides a detailed account of the theoretical and conceptual changes that determined the shift from the early modern reflection on language (17th–18th centuries) to the contemporary reflection (20th century). As regards skills and competences, the course makes it possible to improve one’s ability to understand and interpret philosophical texts, one’s familiarity with scholarly literature, one’s historico-semantic competence, and one’s mastery of compex argumentative procedures.
Furthermore, the course offers an introduction to the philosophy of language, since it makes it possible to consider the present evolution of this discipline with a full awareness of its historical development.

The course addresses the history of linguistic thought in general. Lectures and individual study will provide students with the following knowledge, skills, and competences:
1) Knowledge and comprehension:
- Understanding and mastering the technical terms traditionally used by philosophers of language and linguists: word, noun/name, phrase, meaning, reference, sentence, proposition, utterance, use.
- Knowing the basic concepts worked out by contemporary philosophico-linguistic theories: truth-conditions, compositionality, context, sense/reference distinction, and the classification of semantic theories.
- Notions on the history of linguistic ideas in the modern and contemporary ages: knowing the main discussion topics, the main theoretical positions, the major “turns” that marked the evolution of the linguistic thought in the step from the modern to the contemporary world.
- In-depth knowledge of some selected classics of modern and contemporary linguistic thought: the Port-Royal Grammar and Logic, Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Berkeley’s Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, Leibniz’s writings on language, Frege’s semantic works, Grice’s article on Meaning.
2) Ability to apply knowledge and comprehension:
- Ability to use the philosophical-linguistic vocabulary in the appropriate way to correctly describe linguistic facts and presenting theories.
- Ability to read the classics of the philosophy of language by oneself, preserving both a critical attitude and sensitivity to the historical context.
- Ability to detect similarities and differences between authors and texts that belong to different ages; ability to identify the elements of both continuity and break with tradition along the history of linguistic thought.
3) Judgment ability:
- Ability to argue in favor or against a certain theoretical hypothesis on the basis of a wide historical repertoire of examples and counterexamples.
- Ability to evaluate, for each of the studied classics, the pros and cons of the different interpretations that have been advanced by scholars.
- Ability to distinguish between the claims made by the authors and the arguments used to support those claims; ability to provide a correct reconstruction of such arguments.

The are no specific prerequisites. However, the course requires a solid general background, a very good mastery of language, and an aptitude for reasoning and rational argumentation.

Philosophy of language and theories of meaning between early modern and contemporary thought

1. Introduction
1.1. Current philosophy of language
1.2. Traditional philosophy of language
1.3. Semantics and the naive theories of meaning

2. Port-Royal’s philosophy of language
2.1. Grammar categories and mental operations
2.2. Words, ideas, and things
2.3. Port-Royal according to Michel Foucault and Noam Chomsky

3. Locke’s semantics
3.1. The function of language
3.2. Ideas and signs
3.3. The communicational puzzle

4. Berkeley against Locke
4.1. Fighting against scepticism
4.2. Abstract ideas and language
4.3. The “veil of words”

5. Leibniz’s contribution
5.1. Thought, proposition, and translation
5.2. Thought, language, and truth
5.3. Compositional and non-compositional expressions

6. Frege’s revolution
6.1. Frege’s arguments against traditional semantics
6.2. Frege’s puzzle
6.3. The distinction between sense and reference

7. Grice’s programme
7.1. Natural and non-natural meaning
7.2. Refutation of the causal theory of meaning
7.3. The speaker’s intention

MANDATORY READINGS:

- G. Berkeley, "Introduction", in "Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge".
- G. Frege, "Sense and Reference", in "Collected Papers on Mathematics, Logic, and Philosophy", Blackwell, Oxford
- G. Frege, "The Thought", in "Logical Investigations", ed. P.T. Geach, Yale U.P., New Haven 1977.
- P. Grice, "Meaning", in "Studies in the Way of Words", Harvard U.P., 1989, pp. 213-223.
- G.W. Leibniz, "Dialogue", in "Philosophical Papers and Letters", ed. L.E. Loemker, Kluwer, Dordrecht 1989, pp. 182-185.
- J. Locke, "An Essay on Human Understanding", Book Three, chs. 1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 11.
- R. Simone (a cura di), "Grammatica e Logica di Port-Royal", Ubaldini, Roma, only pp. 3, 15-19, 104-111, 146-164.

Students who don't attend the lectures must also read:
- M. Favaretti Camposampiero, "Modernità e illuminismo", in F. Cimatti and F. Piazza (eds.), "Filosofie del linguaggio. Storie, autori, concetti", Carocci 2016, only pp. 131-150.

Learning is assessed by means of a written exam. The exam consists of a series of open questions, which are aimed to ascertain the acquisition of both historico-philosophical knowledge and analytic-argumentative abilities. The questions ask to expound topics and concepts or to reconstruct arguments that have been presented in the lessons and are treated in the mandatory readings.
The exam takes up to 120 minutes. During the exam, the use of books, notes, or electronic devices is not allowed.

Traditional lectures.
Use of power point.
Analysis of texts and argumentative structures.

Italian

Texts that are difficult to find will be made available by the lecturer.

written