D. Philosophy of Language: Topics

To facilitate study, each Unit is divided into two parts, (a) and (b).

Unit 1

(a) private language and the normativity of meaning

(b) what keeps our use of language on track?

Unit 2

(a) the difference between names and propositions

(b) Wittgenstein's picture theory of propositions

Unit 3

(a) how vague concepts pose a problem for meaning

(b) vagueness and the picture theory

Unit 4

(a) the egocentricity of the picture theory

(b) transcending the world of the solitary subject

Unit 5

(a) Wittgenstein's later view that meaning is use

(b) nominalism, platonism and mentalism

Unit 6

(a) does thought entail the possession of language?

(b) the explanation of animal behaviour

Unit 7

(a) truth conditions and the analysis of sentence structure

(b) the distinction between concept and object

Unit 8

(a) the relativism of language

(b) the distinction between sense and reference

Unit 9

(a) accounting for the sense of proper names

(b) proper names have a point

Unit 10

(a) accounting for the sense of a concept

(b) the point of concepts

Unit 11

(a) truth conditions and verification conditions

(b) refining the idea of verification conditions

Unit 12

(a) do we aim at truth, or at verification?

(b) general statements, and statements about the past

Unit 13

(a) truth as an imaginary target

(b) the truth conditions of vague statements

Unit 14

(a) truth conditions and the theory of fictions

(b) truth and the ideal of convergence

Unit 15

(a) how can meanings be objective?

(b) normativity of meaning and the asymmetry of self and other