Filosofia del llenguatge i de la ment I

Basic Information

Course modules 2023/2024
Lecturer
Esa Díaz León
Semester
1st.
Module
Background courses
Code
363799
Credits
6
Language
English

Dates

Schedule
Wednesdays, 17:00 - 19:00 and Thursdays 18:00 - 19:00
Location
Room 406, Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Barcelona

Description

Contents

1* Idealized communication
2. Three forms of non-idealized language
3. Obstacles to truth
4. Bullshitting: speeches without evidence
5. Conceptual engineering
6. Pejoratives and insults
7. Lexical effects: the associative, not cognitive, effects of words.
8. Non-ideal speech acts
9. Linguistic oppression and linguistic silencing.
10. The speech act of consent

Learning outcomes

Aims:

Capacity for learning and responsibility (capacity for analysis, synthesis, global visions and application of knowledge to practice/ability to make decisions and adapt to new situations).

Ability to reason.

Ability to make a positive contribution in the discussion of problems and projects.

Ability to use and understand specialized philosophical terminology.

Ability to present philosophical topics and issues clearly in oral and written form.

 

Objectives:

Knowledge-related

Students will acquire knowledge about various types of linguistic mechanisms and ways of thinking that can be harmful or faulty. For example, we will discuss pejorative terms that are used to denigrate other people based on their social identity, such as race, ethnicity, nationality, religious group, sexual orientation, etc. We will also discuss questions about conceptual ethics, which tries to detect concepts that are not the most useful when writing reality, and how to revise or modify them to achieve different theoretical or practical objectives. We will also talk about the mechanism of silencing, which consists of speech acts that aim to disable the audience to perform certain types of speech acts, changing the meaning of their words or the type of actions they can perform with them.

Referring to attitudes, values and norms

To foster in students the ability to work with constancy and regularity.

Methodology

Face-to-face sessions will consist of a combination of lectures and discussion sessions of the assigned texts. All sessions will be taught in English. Students can ask questions in English, Spanish or Catalan.

On Wednesdays there will be lectures on the content of the corresponding chapter of H. Cappelen & J. Dever's book Bad Language (Oxford University Press) for that week. On Thursdays we will focus on class discussion on the topic covered the previous day. 

 

Evaluation

Continuous evaluation

Four short exercises (500 words), during the first 12 weeks of classes, through the Virtual Campus.

Each one counts for 10% of the final grade. It will only be evaluated numerically (0-10), in a period of 2-3 weeks maximum. If students wish to receive feedback, they should arrange a meeting with the teacher.

Final exam, during the last week of the class period: 60%.

The evaluation is individual.

Re-evaluation: In order to take the re-evaluation it is necessary to have obtained a previous overall grade (in the continuous evaluation tests or in the single evaluation) of not less than 3 and not more than 4.9.

 

Single evaluation

Single examination, of the whole subject, on a date set by the Board of Studies. The deadline for applying for the single evaluation will be indicated on the first days of class.

The evaluation is individual.

Re-evaluation: In order to take the re-evaluation it is necessary to have obtained a previous overall grade (in the continuous evaluation tests or in the single evaluation) of not less than 3 and not more than 4.9.

Bibliography

Bad Language (Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy of Language), by Herman Cappelen & Josh Dever, Oxford University Press, 2019. ISBN: 9780198839644

Other considerations

This teaching plan may be adapted to virtual teaching if the COVID-19 crisis prevents face-to-face activities from being carried out, as has already happened in the second half of the second semester of the 2019-20 academic year.

For teaching, the different virtual teaching resources available to the teaching staff would be used, although always with a view to the objective improvement of learning.

Regarding the evaluation, the teacher would receive the different tests telematically from the students. In any case, every incident will be promptly communicated to the students.

In application of the Plan of equality of the University of Barcelona, the content of the subject (thematic blocks, or topics, or problems; bibliography; works) incorporates as far as possible and depending on the agenda deployed by each teacher, gender issues (problems, thinkers, bibliography).