PHILO 36400: Philosophy of Language

Hunter College  |  Fall 2020  |  Daniel W. Harris (danielwharris@gmail.com)

  • Syllabus
  • Join our Slack workspace
  • Essay Assignment
  • Week 1 (Aug 31 – Sept 4): The uniqueness of human communication
  • Week 2 (Sept 7–11): Aboutness 1: Descriptivism
  • Week 3 (Sept 14–18): Aboutness 2: The Causal Theory of Reference
  • Week 4 (Sept 21–25): Semantics: Sentence Structure and Meaning
  • Week 5 (Sept 28 – Oct 2): Generative Grammar
  • Week 6 (Oct 5–9): Wittgenstein
  • Week 7 (Oct 12–16): Speech Acts
  • Week 8 (Oct 19–23): Two models of communication
  • Week 9 (Oct 26–30): Indirect Communication and Cooperation
  • Week 10 (Nov 2–6): Metaphor and Ineffability
  • Week 11 (Nov 9–13): Negotiating Word Meanings
  • Week 12 (Nov 16–20): Hate Speech
  • Week 13 (Nov 23–25): Sense and Nonsense 1: Verificationism
  • Week 14 (Nov 30–Dec 4): Sense and Nonsense 2: Bullshit
  • Week 15 (Dec 7–9): Language and thought