Phi 346-02—Analytic Philosophy
Spring 2014—Glen Helman

Instructor: Glen Helman, Assoc. Prof. of Philosophy and Dept. Chair

E-mail: helmang@wabash.edu

Office: Center 214, (765) 361-6334

My posted hours currently are 1:10-2 on M and 3:10-4 on F (but this can change). I usually arrive on campus between 9 and 10 and leave between 5 and 6, and you stand a good chance of finding me in my office whenever I am not teaching (my other classes meet at 11 and 2:10 MWF). While I am in my office most noon hours, the noon hour is also a common time for meetings and other events, as is the afternoon after 4.

Home: 314 W. Wabash Ave., (765) 362-0428

This is your best bet evenings and weekends, but try my office too.

Cell phone: (765) 366-0791

Texts

On JSTOR:

Peter Geach, “Russell’s Theory of Descriptions,” Analysis, vol. 10 (1950), pp. 84–88—on JSTOR at 3326446

H. Paul Grice, “Meaning,” The Philosophical Review, vol. 66 (1957), pp. 377-388—on JSTOR at 2182440

David Kaplan, “Quantifying In,” Synthese, vol. 19 (1968), pp. 178-214—on JSTOR at 20114638

David Lewis, “Scorekeeping in a Language Game,” Journal of Philosophical Logic, vol. 8 (1979), pp. 339–359—on JSTOR at 30227173

Willard van Orman Quine, “Two Dogmas of Empiricism,” The Philosophical Review, vol. 60 (1951), pp. 20–43—on JSTOR at 2181906

Willard van Orman Quine, “Speaking of Objects,” Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, vol. 31 (1957–8), pp. 5–22—on JSTOR at 3129242

Robert Stalnaker, “Pragmatics,” Synthese, vol. 22 (1970), pp. 272–289—on JSTOR at 20114754

On line elsewhere:

Rudolph Carnap, “Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology,” Meaning and Necessity, enlarged ed. (University of Chicago Press, 1956), pp. 205–221 (reprinted from Revue Internationale de Philosophie, vol. 4, 1950, pp. 20–40)—on the web at http://www.ditext.com/carnap/carnap.html

David Chalmers, “The Components of Content,” in David Chalmers (ed.), Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings (Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 608-633—on the web in PDF format and HTML format at http://consc.net/papers/content.pdf and http://consc.net/papers/content.html

Grading

Assignments and grading:

Two papers (the first paper about 3-4 pp. and the second paper 6-7 pp.); I will suggest the forms of the papers but you will have substantial freedom of choice in the topic. (2) Regular, prepared, and active participation in class discussion. Your final grade will be based on these in the following way: 25% and 55%, respectively, for the papers and 20% for class participation.

Attendance and due dates:

As part of my evaluation of your participation, I will be keeping a record of your attendance. You will be automatically excused if you notify me in advance that you will miss a class (e-mail or voice-mail messages are fine). After the fact, you will be excused if you give me a good reason or a dean’s excuse. Due dates for the papers are subject to negotiation. In each case, I have set a default due date for the class (2/12 and 3/7) and but I am willing to set individual due dates (within reason) for those who find the default dates inconvenient. My policy on missed deadlines is similar to that on missed classes: I’ll re-negotiate the deadline (again within reason) if I hear in advance, but after the fact I’ll expect an excuse. Unexcused missed deadlines will have an effect on your participation grade.

Calendar

Calendar. The assignments below are approximate and tentative. Sometimes a reading-guide handout will specify the details of an assignment, and it may include passages that are part of your assignment. Boxed dates are links to paper assignments.

3/17  introduction
3/19Carnap Rudolph Carnap, “Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology,” §§1-2—on the web at http://www.ditext.com/carnap/carnap.html—reading guide
3/21  ——, §§3-5—on the web at http://www.ditext.com/carnap/carnap.html—reading guide
3/24Quine Willard van Orman Quine, “Two Dogmas of Empiricism,” §§I-III, pp. 20–31—on JSTOR at 2181906
3/26  ——, §IV, §V (beginning), pp. 31–38—on JSTOR at 2181906
3/28  ——, §V (end), §VI pp. 38–43—on JSTOR at 2181906
3/31Geach Peter Geach, “Russell’s Theory of Descriptions”—on JSTOR at 3326446
4/2Grice H. Paul Grice, “Meaning,” pp. 377–382—on JSTOR at 2182440
4/4  ——, pp. 382–388—on JSTOR at 2182440
4/7Quine Willard van Orman Quine, “Speaking of Objects,” §§I-III, pp. 5–15—on JSTOR at 3129242
4/9  ——, §§IV–V, pp. 15–22—on JSTOR at 3129242
4/11Kaplan David Kaplan, “Quantifying In,” §§I-V, pp. 178–190—on JSTOR at 20114638
4/14  ——, §§VI-IX, pp. 190–203—on JSTOR at 20114638
4/16  ——, §§X-XIII, pp. 203–210—on JSTOR at 20114638
4/18Stalnaker Robert Stalnaker, “Pragmatics,” through §III, pp. 272–281—on JSTOR at 20114754
4/21  ——, §§IV-V, pp. 281-288—on JSTOR at 20114754
4/23Lewis David Lewis, “Scorekeeping in a Language Game,” pp. 339–347—on JSTOR at 30227173
4/25  ——, pp. 348–358—on JSTOR at 30227173
4/28Chalmers David Chalmers, “The Components of Content,” §§1–4—on the web at http://consc.net/papers/content.pdf
4/30  ——, §§5–6—on the web at http://consc.net/papers/content.pdf
5/2  ——, §§7–9—on the web at http://consc.net/papers/content.pdf
5/7 exam week