Licenciatura em Filosofia

Teaching language: English

Objectives
The course offers an introduction into the semantics and pragmatics of expressions that are context-sensitive, perspectival and/or evaluative. We will thus discuss evaluatives (predicates of taste like “tasty”, aesthetic adjectives like “beautiful”, moral terms like “good”, etc.), expressives (“ouch”, “damn” etc.), slurs (the n-word, "nerd", "commie") and code words ("inner city"). During the biweekly meetings we will explore the main views about each type of expression and assess the main arguments in their favor. Some of these expressions have direct and palpable moral, social and political implications (being related to hate speech and manipulation, for example), and so the course will reflect the current "political turn" in analytic philosophy of language.

Learning outcomes and competences
By the end of the course students will have acquired and developed:
1. An understanding of the main positions in the semantics of the types of perspectival expressions studied.
2. An appreciation of the complexity and importance of such expressions, as well as the main problems and arguments found in the literature.
3. A range of valuable skills and abilities (basic semantic knowledge; how to search and use linguistic data; how to evaluate an argument; how to construct a valid argument; how to read a complicated text).
4. The ability to express complex semantic views and ideas, with an emphasis on clarity, structure, precision, concision and dialectical effectiveness.
5. A range of transferable skills, including the skills mentioned above, but also the ability to work to a deadline, prepare a group presentation and conduct one’s own research (e.g. find and consult a range of primary sources).

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge): Basic or intuitve understanding of some semantic concepts (e.g., meaning, evaluation, perspective, etc.)

Program
- Introduction to truth-conditional semantics. Presentation of the main framework to be used during the course. (Main reading: David Kaplan.)
- Evaluative expressions: predicates of taste, aesthetic adjectives, moral terms, etc. Presentation and discussion of the main views and arguments in the literature. (Main readings: Peter Lasersohn, Isidora Stojanovic, John MacFarlane.)
- Expressives. Presentation and discussion of the main views and arguments in the literature. (Main reading: Christopher Potts.)
- Slurs: Presentation and discussion of the main views and arguments in the literature. (Main readings: Robin Jeshion, Bianca Cepollaro, Luvell Anderson.)
- Code words (dogwhistles) and figleaves. Presentation and discussion of the main views and arguments in the literature. (Main Reading: Jennifer Saul.)
- Non-ideal philosophy of language. Presentation of the idea. (Main reading: David Beaver and Jason Stanley.)

Mandatory literature
David Kaplan; Demonstratives (excerpts)
Peter Lasersohn; Context Dependence, Disagreement, and Predicates of Personal Taste
Isidora Stojanovic; Context and Disagreement
John MacFarlane; Assessment Sensitivity: Relative Truth and its Applications (excerpts)
Christopher Potts; The Expressive Dimension
Robin Jeshion; Varieties of Pejoratives
Bianca Cepollaro; Slurs and Thick Terms: When Language Encodes Values
Luvell Anderson; Calling, Addressing and Appropriation
Jeniffer Saul; Dogwhistles and Figleaves. How Manipulative Language Spreads Racism and Falsehood (excerpts)
David Beaver & Jason Stanley; The Politics of Language (excerpts)

Teaching methods and learning activities: Lectures, discussion in class of reading material, discussion in groups, final exam.

Keywords
Humanities > Philosophy > Logic
Humanities > Philosophy > Semiotics
Humanities > language sciences > Linguistics

Evaluation Type: Single evaluation with a final written exam

Calculation formula of final grade: Written exam 100%