Mind, Matter, and Language (PHIL08014)

Lecturers

Course secretary: Alison Lazda, philinfo@ed.ac.uk

The Frege Reader [The works of Gottlob Frege, edited by Micheal Beaney], Blackwell.
Bertrand Russell, The problems of philosophy, Oxford.
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, Blackwell.
Philosophy of mind: Classical and contemporary readings [edited by David Chalmers], Oxford.

Recommended books:

Frege, Anthony Kenny
Bertrand Russell: The Spirit of Solitude 1872-1921, Ray Monk.
The Routledge Guidebook to Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations, Marie McGinn
Elements of mind : an introduction to the philosophy of mind, Tim Crane
Philosophy of Mind: A Beginner's Guide, Ian Ravenscroft

Week	Date	Topic	Lecturer
1	17 Sept	Frege on sign, function, and object	Dr. Rabern
2	24 Sept	Frege on sense and reference	Dr. Rabern
3	01 Oct	Russell on denoting	Dr. Rabern
4	08 Oct	Russell on the theory of descriptions	Dr. Rabern
5	15 Oct	Wittgenstein on meaning and use	Dr. Rabern
6	22 Oct	Dualism and the mind-body problem	Dr. Wilson
7	29 Oct	Identity theories	Dr. Wilson
8	05 Nov	Functionalism and multiple realisability	Dr. Wilson
9	12 Nov	Kripke’s modal argument and the explanatory gap	Dr. Wilson
10	19 Nov	The knowledge argument	Dr. Wilson
11	26 Nov	Revision Week	Rabern/Wilson

This course will be examined on the basis of two pieces of assessed work (full details):

Mid-term essay
- 1500 word essay answering a question from an agreed list of questions: here
- All quesitons on philosophy of language
- Questions released October 17th 2018.
- Due Wednesday 7th November 2018 by 12pm (mid-day)
- 25% of the overall assessment mark.
End of semester examination
- Two-hour examination given under exam conditions
- 1/4 philosophy of langauge, 3/4 philosophy of mind
- Date, time and place to be announced later in the term
- 75% of the overall assessment mark.

Further information: