PHIL 340 / PSYC 347 Schedule

 

1. Preliminaries
Wed. Jan. 19 course introduction  
Mon. Jan. 24

- Siegler, et al., “The Process of Language Acquisition,” in How Children Develop (Worth, 2003). [optional background]
- Karmiloff & Karmiloff-Smith, “Experimental Paradigms for Studying Language Acquisition,” in Pathways to Language (Harvard, 2001).
- Pinker, The Language Instinct (Morrow, 1994), ch. 2.

  
2. Word - World Theories
Wed. Jan. 26 Jackendoff, Patterns in the Mind (Basic Books, 1994), chs. 1-4.  
Mon. Jan. 31 Stainton, “Direct Reference” and “Mediated Reference,” secs. 1-2, both in Philosophical Perspectives on Language (Broadview, 1996).  
Wed. Feb. 2 - Fodor, “Why There Still Has to Be a Language of Thought,” excerpts, in Psychosemantics (MIT, 1987).
- Fodor, “Meaning and the World Order,” excerpts, in Psychosemantics.		  
* Fri. Feb. 4  

exercise due
by 4: 00 p.m.
Mon. Feb. 7 Markman, “Constraints on Word Learning,” in Gunnar & Maratsos (eds.), Modularity and Constraints in Language and Cognition (Lawrence Erlbaum, 1992).  
Wed. Feb. 9 Waxman, “Links between Object Categorization and Naming,” in Rakison & Oakes (eds.), Early Category and Concept Development (Oxford, 2003).  
Mon. Feb. 14 Quine, “Ontological Relativity,” excerpts, in Ontological Relativity and Other Essays (Columbia, 1969).
first paper due
Wed. Feb. 16 - Martin, “Truth and Meaning,” in The Meaning of Language (MIT, 1987).
- Davidson, “Belief and the Basis of Meaning,” in Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation (Oxford, 1984 / 2nd edn. 2001).		  
Mon. Feb. 21 NO CLASS - PRESIDENTS' DAY  
3. Intentionality Theories
Wed. Feb. 23
 L. Bloom, “The Intentionality Model of Word Learning,” in Golinkoff et al., Becoming a Word Learner (Oxford, 2000).  
Mon. Feb. 28 - Searle, “How Language Works,” in Mind, Language, and Society (Basic Books, 1998).
- Searle, “Meaning,” in Intentionality (Cambridge, 1983).		  
Wed. Mar. 2 - P. Bloom, “Mindreading, Communication and the Learning of Names for Things,” Mind & Language 17:1/2 (2002), pp. 37-54. [Available here.]
- Akhtar & Tomasello, “The Social Nature of Words and World Learning,” in Becoming a Word Learner.		  
Mon. Mar. 7 - Searle, “Intentionality and the Brain,” in Intentionality.
- Searle, “Intentionality and Its Place in Nature,” in Consciousness and Language (Cambridge, 2002).		  
Wed. Mar. 9

Searle, “Indeterminacy, Empiricism, and the First-Person,” Journal of Philosophy 84:3 (1987), pp. 123-146. [Available here.]

  
* Fri. Mar. 11  
second paper due
by 4:00 p.m.

 

** SPRING BREAK **

 
4. Use-Based Theories
Mon. Mar. 28 Samuelson & Smith, “Memory and Attention Make Smart Word Learning: An Alternative Account of Akhtar, Carpenter, and Tomasello,” Child Development 69:1 (1998), pp. 94-104.  
Wed. Mar. 30 Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, trans. Anscombe, 3rd rev. edn. (Blackwell, 2001), secs. 1-33, 43, 65-71,90-92. [On reserve as “Language-Games”]  
Mon. Apr. 4 Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, secs. 243-309. [On reserve as “The Private-Language Argument”]  
Wed. Apr. 6 Wittgenstein, cont.  
Mon. Apr. 11 Sellars, “Some Reflections on Language Games,” secs. 1-38 & 46, in Science, Perception, and Reality (Routledge, 1963).  
Wed. Apr. 13 Smith, “Children’s Noun Learning: How General Learning Processes Make Specialized Learning Mechanisms,” in MacWhinney (ed.), The Emergence of Language (Lawrence Erlbaum, 1999).  
Mon. Apr. 18 Van Gelder, “What Might Cognition Be, If Not Computation?” Journal of Philosophy 92:7 (July 1995), pp. 345-81, skip sec. VI. [Available here.]
proposal due
Wed. Apr. 20 Iverson & Thelen, “Hand, Mouth and Brain: The Dynamic Emergence of Speech and Gesture,” Journal of Consciousness Studies 6:11-12 (1999), pp. 19-40.  
5. Evaluation & Extension
Mon. Apr. 25 Bloom, et al., “Counterpoint Commentary,” excerpts, in Becoming a Word Learner.
third paper due
Wed. Apr. 27

- Fodor, Having Concepts: A Brief Refutation of the Twentieth Century, Mind & Language 19:1 (2004), pp. 29-47.
- Prinz & Clark, Putting Concepts to Work: Some Thoughts for the Twenty-first Century, Mind & Language 19:1 (2004), pp. 57-69.
- Fodor, Reply to Commentators - Prinz/Clark, Mind & Language 19:1 (2004), pp. 102-105. [All three available here.]

  
Mon. May 2 Bellugi, et al., “The Neurocognitive Profile of Williams Syndrome,” excerpts, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 12, supplement (2000), pp. 7-29.  
Wed. May 4 - Wynne, Animal Cognition (Palgrave, 2001), ch. 8.
- Savage-Rumbaugh & Brakke, “Animal Language: Methodological and Interpretive Issues,” in Bekoff & Jamieson (eds.), Readings in Animal Cognition (MIT, 1996).		  
Thurs. Dec. 11 student presentations & semester wrap-up  
** final papers due Monday, May 16 by 12:00 noon **

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