![[image of Gottlob Frege]](../images/Frege.jpg)
Gottlob Frege (1848-1925)
Offered Fall 2008
Time/Place:
M 3:35-6:05
374 Bartlett Hall
Professor:
Gary Ostertag
Office:
381 Bartlett Hall
Hours:
T 2:30-3:30, and by appointment
E-mail:
ostertag AT philos DOT umass DOT edu
Course Description
The course will be an advanced introduction to a central area in contemporary philosophy of language—the semantics of propositional attitude reports. The focus will be on the various attempts to solve Kripke’s Puzzle. We will begin with a quick review of the pre-Kripkean history of the topic, proceed with a close examination of Kripke’s own statement of the puzzle, and then consider a variety of proposed solutions: semantic, pragmatic, as well as approaches that don’t fit comfortably in either category. Topics to be discussed include: the logical form of attitude reports, the semantics of that-clauses, the nature of propositions, the semantics/pragmatics divide. Time permitting, we will discuss Kit Fine’s treatment of Kripke’s Puzzle in his recently published Locke Lectures.
Evaluation
Evaluation, for graduate students, will be based upon one short paper (5 pages), one final paper (15-20 pages) and possibly one seminar presentation. For undergraduates, a set of take-home midterm essays and a final paper of about 10 pages.
UMass Plagiarism Policy
Schedule of Readings and Assignments
Required Text:
Matthew Davidson, On Sense and Direct Reference. McGraw-Hill.
Reserve List:
Mark Crimmins, Talk about Beliefs.
Robert Fiengo & Robert May, De Lingua Belief.
Kit Fine, Semantic Relationism.
Nathan Salmon, Frege's Puzzle.
Scott Soames, Beyond Rigidity: The Unfinished Semantic Agenda of Naming and Necessity.
Stephen Schiffer, The Things We Mean.
Zoltan Szabó, Semantics versus Pragmatics.