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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2014/2015
- ARCHIVE as at 1 September 2014

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences : Philosophy

Undergraduate Course: Formal Semantics for Philosophers (PHIL10137)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences CollegeCollege of Humanities and Social Science
Course typeStandard AvailabilityAvailable to all students
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) Credits20
Home subject areaPhilosophy Other subject areaNone
Course website None Taught in Gaelic?No
Course descriptionFormal semantics is a subfield of linguistics and philosophy of language which aims at constructing a formal analysis of meaning. The goal in formal semantics is to develop a theory capable of representing sentence meaning as a function of the meaning of the sentence's constituents and the order in which these are combined. The purpose of this course is to provide an introduction to the mathematical and logical tools standardly utilized in model theoretic truth conditional semantics, but throughout the course, we will focus on topics that have traditionally occupied philosophers of language, namely quantification, reference, and various intensional phenomena (e.g. indexicality, modality, and conditionals). Formal semantics is now an essential part of the philosophy of language but it also impacts research in other philosophical areas such as (formal) epistemology, logic, philosophy of mind, and metaethics.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Students MUST have passed: Knowledge and Reality (PHIL08017) AND Mind, Matter and Language (PHIL08014) AND Logic 1 (PHIL08004)
Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Students MUST NOT also be taking Current Issues in Semantics and Pragmatics (LASC10069)
Other requirements None
Additional Costs None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesVisiting 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.
Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus?Yes
Course Delivery Information
Delivery period: 2014/15 Semester 2, Available to all students (SV1) Learn enabled:  Yes Quota:  25
Web Timetable Web Timetable
Course Start Date 12/01/2015
Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 174 )
Additional Notes
Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
No Exam Information
Delivery period: 2014/15 Semester 2, Part-year visiting students only (VV1) Learn enabled:  No Quota:  5
Web Timetable Web Timetable
Course Start Date 12/01/2015
Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 174 )
Additional Notes
Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
No Exam Information
Summary of Intended 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.
Assessment Information
Mid-term take-home examination (40%)
End-of-semester take-home examination (60%)
Special Arrangements
None
Additional Information
Academic description Not entered
Syllabus Not entered
Transferable skills Not entered
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

Study Abroad Not entered
Study Pattern Not entered
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserDr Anders Schoubye
Tel:
Email: aschouby@exseed.ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Susan Richards
Tel: (0131 6)51 3733
Email: sue.richards@ed.ac.uk
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