The course aims at illustrating the main classical and contemporary theories about verbal language.
The aim of the course is to offer the students a comprehensive picture of the structure and the functioning of human verbal language, with particular attention to the contemporary debate in the analytic philosophy of language and in cognitive science.
The course will be divided into five thematic blocks that identify the main educational objectives of the course: (i) Language(s): defining the notion of sign and of communication, learning the basis of propositional logics and of second order logics, distinguishing the different types of arguments, characterizing the main areas of linguistic investigation (syntax, semantics and pragmatics). (ii) Language and representation: understanding the main theories of reference, illustrating the notion of meaning as truth-conditions and the bases of classic semantics. Language and action: knowing how to define the notion of meaning as use, understanding the theory speech acts, the theory of implicatures and the theories of politeness. Language and communication: understanding the notion of semantic holism, the concept of radical translation and the relationship between truth and interpretation; knowing how to illustrate the main theories on the relationship between language and culture. Language and mind: characterizing the main positions on the origins of verbal language and about innatism, understanding the modular theory of the mind, being able to illustrate the notion of strong artificial intelligence and its criticisms.
The course has an introductory nature and does not presuppose any prior philosophical, logical or linguistic knowledge.
Teaching will be provided through frontal lectures given by the teacher.
Students are required to register at Aulaweb, where materials useful for the course will be uploaded.
During the lessons, the main arguments for and against the contemporary philosophical-linguistic theories on verbal language will be analysed in relation to the relationship between language and representation, action, communication and mind. Through this critical analysis, we will illustrate how the understanding of the structure and functioning of verbal language is a fundamental requirement to formulate and address philosophical questions.
The relevant bibliography will be provided on the Aulaweb page of the course
Ricevimento: Prof. Filippo Domaneschi Monday from11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Room 3C3 Building C – 3th floor For any question concerning lectures: filippo.domaneschi@unige.it
FILIPPO DOMANESCHI (President)
MARCELLO FRIXIONE
MASSIMILIANO VIGNOLO
October 2, 2018
Students attending classes 1) oral exam
Students non-attending classes 1) oral exam
All the students are mandatorily required to pre-register to the exam one week in advance.
In both cases, the correct use of the relevant philosophical and scientific lexicon, the ability to reason critically, the quality of exposure will be taken into consideration for the purpose of the evaluation.
Attending students: the written exam consists of 5 open questions. Each question focuses on one of the five different thematic blocks of the course. Each answer is assigned a maximum of 6 points. The evaluation of each answer takes into account different criteria: correctness of the answer, completeness, relevance and clarity of exposition.
NON-attending students: the oral exam, as well as the written test, consists of 5 questions concerning the different five thematic blocks of the course. Two further questions are reserved for the supplementary text required for the non-attending students. Each answer is assigned a maximum of 6 points. The evaluation of each answer takes into account different criteria: correctness of the answer, completeness, relevance and clarity of exposition.
In both cases, the correct use of the relevant philosophical and scientific lexicon, the ability to reason critically, the quality of exposure will be taken into consideration for the purpose of the evaluation
Students who are unable to attend classes are required to contact the teacher
Office time
Monday11-13
DISFOR, Corso Podestà 2, stanza 3C3.
