Undergraduate Course: Formal Semantics for Philosophers (PHIL10137)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Formal semantics is a subfield of linguistics and philosophy of language that aims at providing a formal analysis of meaning. The two primary aims of the course are to provide a general understanding of the mathematical and logical tools standardly used in formal semantics and of the complex issues that any formal analysis of natural language inevitably faces.
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| Course description |
Formal semantics is a subfield of linguistics and philosophy of language that aims at providing a formal analysis of meaning. More specifically a systematic method for recursively and compositionally deriving the truth conditions of sentences of natural language. This systematic method relies on the use of a number of mathematical and logical tools and this course is intended as an introduction to this general project. The two primary aims of the course are to provide a general understanding of the mathematical and logical tools standardly used in formal semantics and of the complex issues that any formal analysis of natural language inevitably faces. Formal semantics is now an essential part of the philosophy of language and often has wide-reaching impact in other philosophical areas such as (formal) epistemology, logic, philosophy of mind, metaethics etc.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 Philosophy courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
| To (a) provide students with a background and understanding of the mathematical and logical tools standardly employed in formal semantics, and (b) explicate key concepts in logic and philosophy of language such as recursion, compositionality, syntax, semantics, type theory, lambda abstraction thereby extending the students¿ philosophical knowledge acquired in previous courses.
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Reading List
Kai von Fintel and Irene Heim (2007) ¿Intensional Semantics¿ (unpublished ms.)
Irene Heim and Angelika Kratzer (1998) ¿Semantics in Generative Grammar¿, Blackwell Publishing.
Michael Glanzberg (2006) ¿Quantifiers¿ In ¿The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Language¿ (ch.31, p.794-822), Ed. Ernest Lepore and Barry Smith, Oxford University Press.
David Kaplan (1989) ¿Demonstratives¿ In ¿Themes From Kaplan¿ Ed. Joseph Almog, John Perry and Howard Wettstein, Oxford University Press.
David Lewis (1980) ¿Index, Context, and Content¿ In ¿Philosophy and Grammar¿ Ed. Stig Kanger, Sven Öhman, D. Reidel Publishing Company.
James McCawley (1993) ¿Everything that Linguists Have Always Wanted to Know about Logic ¿ But Were Ashamed to Ask¿ 2nd edition, The Chicago University Press.
Stephen Neale (1990) ¿Descriptive Pronouns and Donkey Anaphora¿ The Journal of Philosophy, LXXXVII, 3: 113-150.
L.T.F Gamut Logic, Language and Meaning (Vol. I and II) University of Chicago Press, 1990
Partee, ter Meulen, and Wall Mathematical Methods in Linguistics Springer, 1990
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Anders Schoubye
Tel:
Email: Jackie.Allan@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Samantha Bell
Tel: (0131 6)50 3602
Email: |
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