Readings

The following books are required reading for the course.

[F] = Buy at Amazon Frege, Gottlob. The Foundations of Arithmetic: A Logico-Mathematical Enquiry into the Concept of Number. 2nd revised ed. Translated by J. L. Austin. Northwestern University Press, 1980. ISBN: 9780810106055. [Preview with Google Books]

[FR] = Buy at Amazon ———. The Frege Reader. Edited by Michael Beaney. Blackwell Publishing, 1997. ISBN: 9780631194453.

[R] = Buy at Amazon Russell, Bertrand. The Problems of Philosophy. Wilder Publications, 2009. ISBN: 9781604595130.

[W] = Buy at Amazon Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Tractatus Logico-Philosphicus. Translated by D. F. Pears and B. F. McGuiness. Humanities Press International, 1992. ISBN: 9780391036086.

[WP] = Buy at Amazon ———. Philosophical Investigations. 4th ed. Translated by G. E. M. Anscombe, P. M. S. Hacker, and Joachim Schulte. Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. ISBN: 9781405159289.

[M] = Buy at Amazon Moore, G. E. Principia Ethica. 2nd ed. Edited by Thomas Baldwin. Cambridge University Press, 1994. [Preview with Google Books]

[A] = Buy at Amazon Ayer, Alfred Jules. Language, Truth and Logic. 2nd ed. Dover Publications, 1952. ISBN: 9780486200101.

[R] = Buy at Amazon Ryle, Gilbert. The Concept of Mind. University Of Chicago Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780226732961.

[AJ] = Buy at Amazon Austin, J. L. Sense and Sensibilia. 2nd ed. Edited by G. J. Warnock. Oxford University Press, 1962. ISBN: 9780195003079.

Additional readings, as well as accompanying questions, are listed in the table below.

WEEK # TOPICS READINGS READING QUESTIONS
1 Introduction: ''Boston'' designates 'Boston'—quasi-quotation & such

Handout 1: "Boston" designates 'Boston' (PDF)

Buy at Amazon Quine, W. V. "Use versus Mention." Chapter 1, section 4 in Mathematical Logic. Harvard University Press, 1981. ISBN: 9780674554511.

Buy at Amazon ———. "Statements about Statements." Chapter 1, section 5 in Mathematical Logic. Harvard University Press, 1981. ISBN: 9780674554511.

Buy at Amazon ———. "Quasi-Quotation." Chapter 1, section 6 in Mathematical Logic. Harvard University Press, 1981. ISBN: 9780674554511.

Buy at Amazon Cartwright, Richard. Philosophical Essays. MIT Press, 1987. ISBN: 9780262031301.

Handout 2: "Schemas" (PDF)

Buy at Amazon Quine, W. V. "The Variable." Chapter 27 in The Ways of Paradox and Other Essays. Revised edition. Harvard University Press, 1976. ISBN: 9780674948372. [Preview with Google Books]

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2 Frege: The Foundations of Arithmetic (1884) [F] Reading questions 1 (PDF)
3 Frege: The Foundations of Arithmetic (1884) [F] Reading questions 2 (PDF)
4

Frege: Function and Concept (1891)

Frege: On Concept and Object (1892)

Frege: On Sense and Reference (1892)

Frege: The Thought: A Logical Enquiry (1918)

[FR] Reading questions 3 (PDF)
5

Meinong: The Theory of Objects (1904)

Russell: On Denoting (1905)

Buy at Amazon Meinong, Alexius. "The Theory of Objects." In Realism and the Background of Phenomenology. Edited by Roderick M. Chisolm. Ridgeview Publishing Company, 1981. ISBN: 9780917930140.

Russell, Bertrand. "On Denoting." Mind 14, no. 56 (1905): 479–93.

Handout 3: "On Denoting" (PDF)

Reading questions 4 (PDF)
6

Brentano: Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint (1874)

Husserl: Logical Investigations (1900 / 1901)

Russell: The Philosophy of Logical Atomism (1918)

Buy at Amazon Brentano, Franz. Excerpt from Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint. 2nd ed. Translated by Antos C. Rancurello, D. B. Terrell, and Linda L. McAlister. International Library of Philosophy, 1995. ISBN: 9780415106610.

Buy at Amazon Husserl, Edmund. "Consciousness as Intentional Experience." Investigation V, Chapter 2 in Logical Investigations. Vol. 2. Routledge, 2001, pp. 94–106. ISBN: 9780415241908.

Buy at Amazon Russell, Bertrand. "The Philosophy of Logical Atomism." In Logic and Knowledge: Essays 1901–1950. Edited by Robert C. Marsh. George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1956. ISBN: 9780041640014.

Reading questions 5 (PDF)
7 and 8

Russell: The Problems of Philosophy (1912)

Wittgenstein: Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921)

Intermission: Rayo, The Construction of Logical Space (2013)

[R]

[W]

Buy at Amazon Rayo, Augustin. The Construction of Logical Space. Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780199662623. [Preview with Google Books]

Reading questions 6 (PDF)
9 Wittgenstein: Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921)

[W]

Conant, James. This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader."Wittgenstein's Later Criticism of the Tractatus." (PDF)

Diamond, Cora, and James Conant. This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader."On Reading the Tractatus Resolutely: Reply to Meredith Williams and Peter Sullivan." (PDF)

Diamond, Cora. "Throwing Away the Ladder." Philosophy 63, no. 243 (1988): 5–27.

Reading questions 7 (PDF)
10

Moore: Principia Ethica (1903)

Moore: The Conception of Intrinsic Value (1922)

[M] Reading questions 8 (PDF)
11

Moore: The Refutation of Idealism (1903)

Moore: A Defence of Common Sense (1925)

Moore: Proof of an External World (1939)

Buy at Amazon Moore, G. E. "The Refutation of Idealism." In G. E. Moore: Selected Writings. Edited by Thomas Baldwin. Routledge, 2013. ISBN: 9780415862295. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at Amazon ———. "A Defence of Common Sense." In G. E. Moore: Selected Writings. Edited by Thomas Baldwin. Routledge, 2013. ISBN: 9780415862295. [Preview with Google Books]

Van Cleve, James. This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader."Troubles For Radical Transparency." (PDF) 2005.

Buy at Amazon Moore, G. E. "Proof of an External World." In G. E. Moore: Selected Writings. Edited by Thomas Baldwin. Routledge, 2013. ISBN: 9780415862295.

Reading questions 9 (PDF)
12

Ayer: Language, Truth, and Logic (1936)

Wittgenstein: Philosophical Investigations (1953)

[A]

[WP]

Reading questions 10 (PDF)
13 Wittgenstein: Philosophical Investigations (1953)

[WP]

Buy at Amazon Hacker, P. M. S. "Private Linguists and Public Speakers." Chapter 9 in Insight and Illusion: Wittgenstein on Philosophy and the Metaphysics of Experience. Oxford University Press, 1975. ISBN: 9780195198232.

Buy at Amazon Kenny, Anthony. "Private Languages." Chapter 10 in Wittgenstein. Revised edition. Wiley-Blackwell, 2005. ISBN: 9781405136556. [Preview with Google Books]

Reading questions 11 (PDF)
14 and 15

Wittgenstein: Philosophical Investigations (1953)

Ryle: The Concept of Mind (1949)

Austin: Sense and Sensibilia (1962)

Ayer: The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge (1940)

[WP]

Buy at Amazon Horwich, Paul. "A Critique of Theoretical Philosophy." Chapter 2 in Wittgenstein's Metaphilosophy. Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780199661121. [Preview with Google Books]

[R]

Stanley, Jason, and Timothy Williamson. "Knowing How." Journal of Philosophy 98, no. 8 (2001): 411–44.

[AJ]

Buy at Amazon Ayer, A. J. "Preface." In The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge. Palgrave Macmillan, 1964. ISBN: 9780333068380.

Buy at Amazon ———. "The Argument from Illusion." Chapter 1 in The Foundations of Empirical Knowledge. Palgrave Macmillan, 1964. ISBN: 9780333068380.

Reading questions 12 (PDF)