Philosophy of Language: The Big Questions

Part I: Language: What is it?:.

1. Language as the Weaving Together of Forms: Plato.

2. The Origins of Language: Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

3. On Words: John Locke.

4. On the Scientific Justification of a Conceptual Notation: Gottlob Frege.

5. The Existential Matrix of Inquiry: John Dewey.

6. Picturing Reality: Ludwig Wittgenstein.

7. Subjectivity in Language: Emile Benveniste.

8. Private Language, Public Languages: Jerry Fodor.

9. The Mark of Gender: Monnique Wittig.

Part II: Meaning: How do Words get their Sense?:.

10. On Sense and Reference: Gottlob Frege.

11. The Principle of Verifiability: A.J. Ayer.

12. Meaning as Use: Ludwig Wittgenstein.

13. Biosemantics: Ruth Millikan.

14. How can Language be Sexist?: Merrill and Jaakko Hintikka.

Part III: Speaking: What is it to Say Something:.

15. Meaning: H.P. Grice.

16. Performative Utterances: John Austin.

17. Verbal Interaction: V.N. Volosinov.

18. Telling as Letting Know: Arindam Chakrabati.

19. He I Sought but did not Find: Luce Irigaray.

Part IV: Reference: what do we Talk About?:.

20. On Denoting: Bertrand Russell.

21. Naming and Necessity (excerpts): Saul Kripke.

22. The Formation of Objects: Michel Foucault.

23. Critically Queer: Judith Butler.

24. 'Worlds' and World Travelling: Maria Lugones.

Part V: Truth: What is the Reaction Between Language and Reality?:.

25. The Semantic Theory of Truth: Alfred Tarski.

26. The Method of Truth in Metaphysics: Donald Davidson.

27. Truth as Coherence: Linda Alcoff.

28. Truth Through Social Praxis: David Theo Goldberg.

29. Are Truth Claims Dysfunctional?: Sandra Harding.

Part VI: Other Minds and Foreign Tongues: How is it Possible to Understand What Someone Else Says?:.

30. The Translation of Unstranslatable Words: Bronislaw Malinowski.

31. Indeterminacy of Translation: W.V. Quine.

32. On the Very Idea of a Conceptual Scheme: Donald Davidson.

33. An American Indian Model of the Universe: Benjamin Whorf.

34. How to Tame a Wild Tongue: Gloria Anzaldua.

35. Language as Boundary: Wole Soyinka.