PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE II

The course aims to critically introduce to the reading of the "Tractatus logico-philosophicus" by Ludwig Wittgenstein. The specific reference point will be the theme of "sense and nonsense" and its relation to the problems of language and to conception of philosophy. Particular attention will be devoted to the interpretation of these themes offered by Cora Diamond and her school and to the intense debate that followed.
The course is justified by the great influence that the "Tractatus logico-philosophicus" have been playing in contemporary philosophy, and because of the intrinsic philosophical importance that the theme of "sense and nonsense" covers not only in philosophy of language, but also in the ethical, meta-ethical, epistemological field etc.

Analytical knowledge of "Tracttaus logico-philosophicus".
- Knowledge of the essential critical and interpretative literature on the "Tractatus" (on sense, nonsense, language, philosophy).
- Ability to reconstruct in their essential lines the main issues at stake regarding both the position of Wittgenstein and the assumptions and plausibility of the critical proposals put forward by the interpreters.
- Ability to recognize the relevance of the topics dealt with in other areas and contexts of current philosophical research

Philosophy of Language's first module.

- Wittgenstein's Philosophy: an overview
- "Tractatus logico-philosophicus": an introduction
- From "Notebooks 1914-1916" to "Tractatus"
- Frege and Russell on the unity of proposition
- Ontology, logic and language
- Sense and Nonsense
- Philosohy as critique Kripke
- Cora Diamond on "Tractatus" and its method.
- The 'New Wittgenstein: a debate
- Meaning, rule and interpretation
- The Community View

L. Wittgenstein, Tractatus logico-philsophicus, Routledge, London/New York
P. Frascolla, Understanding Wittgenstein's Tractatus, Routledge, London/New York 2011

Learning will be verified through a questionnaire of 10 open questions to be completed in two hours.
Alternatively, it will be possible to write a paper (around 14,000 characters) on a topic strictly related to the course contents and agreed with the course lecturer.

The course lecturer will explain the main topics, contents, etc. object of the course during the teaching sessions.
Students will be solicited to intervene with questions, requests for clarification, objections. Furthermore, they will be invited to identify possible answers to the problems under discussion, to produce arguments and to find good examples.
Towards the end of the course some of the papers written by the students might be presented and discussed in class.

Italian

Additional readings may be found online. I will make them electronically available (I.S.A. material).
The material on JSTOR can be downloaded directly from the electronic resources of the Library.

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development