Text:

Ludwig Wittgenstein. The Blue and Brown Books (Prentice-Hall, 1958).

In PDF format:

Bertrand Russell, chs. 5 (with sels. from chs. 1, 4) and 12, of The Problems of Philosophy (PDF files on the website and Moodle: Russell handout 1, Russell handout 2)

Ludwig Wittgenstein, sels. from Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (PDF on Moodle)

JSTOR:

Rudolf Carnap, “Empiricsm, Semantics, and Ontology,” a supplement to Meaning and Necessity, enlarged edition (University of Chicago Press, 1956) (available on line at www.ditext.com at http://www.ditext.com/carnap/carnap.html)

Donald Davidson, “Belief and the Basis of Meaning” Synthese, vol. 27 (1974), pp. 309-323 (on JSTOR at 20114926)

Michael Dummett, “Postscript” to Synthese, vol. 27, nos. 3/4 (1974), pp. 523-534 (on JSTOR at 20114942)

Hilary Putnam, “Meaning and Reference,” The Journal of Philosophy, vol. 70 (1973), pp. 699-711 (on JSTOR at 2025079)

W. V. Quine, “Notes on Existence and Necessity,” The Journal of Philosophy, vol. 40 (1943), pp. 113-127 (on JSTOR at 2017458)

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

Requirements: (1) Two papers (the first paper about 2-3 pp. and the second paper 5-6 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. I have set a default due date for the class, but I am willing to set individual due dates (within reason) for those who find that 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.