Meaning and Truth

Course Reading and Topics

 

Set text

Secondary texts

Further reading, on the specific topics of Russell’s theory of descriptions and indexicality, is provided in the relevant section below. Items in square brackets are recommended, but less essential.

 

(1) Logic and Language

Topics

analytic philosophy and the philosophy of language; the relationship between logic and language; meaning, truth and the semantics/pragmatics and sense/tone/force distinctions; the revolution in logic; invention of quantifier notation; treatment of generality; logical form and grammatical form; existential import; ‘conceptual content’ and logical equivalence

& Reading

  • FR, ‘Introduction’, §2 (pp. 10-14); ‘Begriffsschrift’, Preface and §3 (pp. 48-52, 53-4); ‘Logic’, esp. pp. 239-44
  • [FMS, ‘Introduction’; chs. 1-2, esp. §§ 2.2, 2.4, 2.5]
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    (2) Concepts, Objects and Numbers

    Topics

    function-argument analysis; objects/first-level concepts/second-level concepts; problem of the unity of the proposition; the paradox of the concept horse; Frege’s logicism; number statements as involving assertions about concepts; numbers as objects

    & Reading

  • FR,  ‘Introduction’, §1, pp. 1-8; ‘Letter to Marty’ (pp. 79-83); ‘Foundations’, Introd. & Parts I-III (pp. 84-105); ‘On Concept and Object’ (pp. 181-93); ‘Comments on Sinn and Bedeutung’ (pp. 172-80); [‘Grundgesetze, I’, Pref. (pp. 194-208)]
  • [FMS, §2.4; ch. 3; §§ 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 7.1, 7.3]
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    (3) Analysis and Definition

    Topics

    the context principle; contextual definition; Platonism vs. eliminativism about abstract objects; the paradox of analysis; Frege’s early notion of ‘fruitfulness’; Frege’s response to Husserl’s criticisms; ‘constructive’ v. ‘analytic’ definitions; the idea of ‘reconstruction’

    & Reading

  • FR,  ‘Introduction’, §3, pp. 14-20; ‘Begriffsschrift’, §9 (pp. 65-8); ‘Foundations’, Parts IV-V (pp. 105-29), esp. §88 (p. 122); ‘Review of Husserl’ (pp. 224-6); [‘Letter to Russell, 22.6.1902’ (pp. 253-4); ‘Grundgesetze, II’, §§ 55-67 (pp. 259-70), §§ 146-7 and App. (pp. 277-89)]; ‘Logic in Mathematics’, esp. pp. 313-21; [‘Sources of Knowledge’ and ‘Numbers and Arithmetic’ (pp. 368-73)]
  • [FMS, chs. 4-5; §§ 7.2, 8.2, 8.5; App. 2]
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    (4) Sense and Reference

    Topics

    Frege’s own motivation; the informativeness of identity statements; extensional and intensional contexts; application of the distinction to singular terms, functional expressions, sentences; senses without referents; ‘referential’ vs. ‘descriptive’ theories of proper names

    & Reading

  • FR, ‘Introduction’, §3, pp. 20-30; [‘Introduction’, §4 (pp. 36-46)]; ‘Begriffsschrift’, §8 (pp. 64-5); ‘Function and Concept’, esp. pp. 130-8; ‘Letter to Husserl, 24.5.1891’ (pp. 149-50); ‘On Sinn and Bedeutung’ (pp. 151-71); ‘Letter to Russell, 28.12.1902’ (pp. 255-7); ‘Letter to Russell, 13.11.1904’ (pp. 290-2); ‘Introduction to Logic’ (pp. 293-8); ‘Letter to Jourdain, Jan. 1914’ (pp. 319-21); App. 2, p. 385
  • [FMS, ch. 6; §8.3]
  • [Miller, Philosophy of Language, ch. 1]
  • [McCulloch, The Game of the Name, chs. 1, 4]
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    (5) Russell’s Theory of Descriptions

    Topics

    Russell’s motivation; eliminativism; Strawson’s response; sentences and statements; entailment and presupposition; ‘attributive’ vs. ‘referential’ uses of definite descriptions

    & Reading

  • [Russell, ‘On Denoting’, in Logic and Knowledge, ed. R.C. Marsh (George Allen & Unwin, 1956); orig. in Mind 1905]
  • ____, Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy (George Allen & Unwin, 1919), ch. 16; repr. in A.W. Moore, ed., Meaning and Reference (OUP, 1993)
  • [____, ‘Mr Strawson on Referring’, in My Philosophical Development (George Allen & Unwin, 1959), pp. 175-80; orig. in Mind 1957, pp. 385-9]
  • Strawson, P.F., ‘On Referring’, in Logico-Linguistic Papers (Methuen, 1971), pp. 1-27; repr. in Moore, ed., Meaning and Reference; orig. in Mind 1950
  • [____, ‘Identifying Reference and Truth-Values’, in Logico-Linguistic Papers (Methuen, 1971), pp. 75-95; orig. in Theoria 1964, pp. 96-118]
  • Donnellan, Keith, ‘Reference and Definite Descriptions’, Phil. Rev. 1966, pp. 281-304
  • [Miller, Philosophy of Language, ch. 2]
  • [McCulloch, The Game of the Name, chs. 2, 3, 7]
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    (6) Thought and Indexicality

    Topics

    truth and meaning; criteria for sameness of thought; the problem of indexicals; objectivity and communicability

    & Reading

  • FR, ‘Introduction’, §3, pp. 30-6; ‘Logic’, esp. pp. 227-39; ‘A Brief Survey of my Logical Doctrines’ (pp. 299-300); ‘Letters to Husserl, 1906’ (pp. 301-7); ‘My Basic Logical Insights’ (pp. 322-4); ‘Thought’ (pp. 325-45)
  • [FMS, §§ 7.4, 7.5, 8.1, 8.4]
  • [McCulloch, The Game of the Name, ch. 6]
  • Perry, John, ‘Frege on Demonstratives’, in Palle Yourgrau, ed., Demonstratives (OUP, 1990), pp. 50-70; orig. in Phil. Rev. 1977, pp. 474-97
  • Evans, Gareth, ‘Understanding Demonstratives’, in Yourgrau, Demonstratives, pp. 71-96; also in Evans, Collected Papers (OUP, 1985), pp. 291-321
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    © Mike Beaney

    February 1999

    Meaning and Truth

    Mike Beaney