Course info

The politics of language: (Updated 08 May 2018)

This year, we will focus on contemporary philosophy of language. We will look in particular at the mutual relations between language and its context of production.

This first involves asking how language manages to make contact with those aspects of the external world it aims to represent (how do e.g. names, descriptions, indexicals such as "here" and "now", manage to refer?), and how the context of utterance can influence the meaning of what we say. In this part of the course, we will be helped by foundational texts in XIXth and XXth philosophy of language. We will particularly focus on works by Frege, Austin, Grice and Searle.

We will also ask how language can influence in return the context in which it is used, and we will discuss some of the political and ethical questions this raises. We will look in particular at the dynamics of conversation and how it is used to convey non-literal meanings; speech-acts; attitudes to truth displayed in lying, bullshitting and irony; freedom of speech and silencing; hate speech and the social construction of stereotypes; ideology and propaganda. In this second part of the course, we will focus on current work in semantics and pragmatics.

Format and expectations:

The sessions will be run as graduate seminars, and they will require a high level of participation from students. I will provide some background for the essential texts, and explain key notions, but this content will be embedded in extended class discussions for which you will be expected to have done some weekly preparation work

Sessions will be pre-read, and you will be asked to write two short comments (which can take the form of informed questions) on each of the texts to be discussed. These comments must be submitted to FASER no later than the day before the next session. Note that weekly homework submissions are not intended as tests; rather, they are intended to help you in your personal preparatory work, and to gauge your level of engagement. The mark for this part of the coursework will therefore be based on the submission of a sufficient number of weekly replies (at least 5 out of 9) and on their providing evidence of sufficient preparation. There will be no feedback on individual weekly homework submissions, but only a general appraisal at the end of term. You will have the option of revising and extending some of your weekly comments into paragraphs that might find a place in your final essay.


Coursework assessment also includes a mark for oral participation, and this will reflect in large part your efforts to make a constructive contribution to seminar discussion, including bringing questions the group might find interesting to discuss, offering up critical reflections on the texts, and giving your peers feedback on their ideas.

Learning Outcomes:

* By the end of this seminar, students are expected to be able to:
* display in-depth knowledge of the relevant topic;
* display detailed knowledge of the contemporary philosophy texts studied in the module;
* develop a critical assessment of at least some of the views examined in class and articulate their own views on the same topic;
* write a well-researched paper on a subject selected within the field of contemporary philosophy and in relation to the module's main topic.