Course Descriptions

This course has two modules corresponding to the two topics that will be discussed in the course. The first topic is the semantics of names and indexicals. Specifically, we will discuss standard semantic accounts of proper names and indexicals. We will also discuss descriptive readings of proper names and indexicals and deferred references with proper names and indexicals. An example of a descriptive reading of an indexical would be a case in which I point at Pope Leo decked out in full pope regalia and say, ‘He is usually Italian.’ thereby conveying the claim that the Pope is often Italian. An example of deferred reference with an indexical would be a case in which I point at a picture of Ernie and say, ‘He is a philosopher.’ thereby conveying the claim that Ernie is a philosopher in part because Ernie is the semantic value in context of my utterance of ‘he’. That is because, though I demonstrate a picture of Ernie, I nonetheless secure Ernie himself as the semantic value in context of my utterance of ‘he’.

The second topic we will discuss is compositionality. The rough statement of what constitutes a compositional language is that the semantic values (perhaps in context) of complex expressions of the language are determined by the semantic values of their simple parts and how they are combined. Compositionality is a basic feature of most approaches to semantics within philosophy and linguistics. But it raises a number of foundational questions. First, compositionality is surprisingly hard to justify. Standard justifications seem to support only something much weaker than full compositionality. Second, when rigorously defined, compositionality can appear either far too strong, or far too weak. Finally, in its strong form, it remains a substantial question if any standard semantic theory really is fully compositional.

Assignments: One research paper on topics/issues addressed in the course. Paper topics should be run by one of us before starting on the paper. The paper will be due at the end of final examination week (though we will charitably consider requests for extensions).