Learning objectives
The course aims to expose students to the methodologies of philosophical argumentation by exposing them on the one hand to one of the great classics of philosophy of the mind of the twentieth century, and on the other hand to what is in many respects a model debate.
Course unit content
Course title: Gilbert Ryle and philosophy as analysis of language. <br />
<br />
The course sets out to examine the emergence, during the first half of last century, of a new conception of philosophy, one according to which the philosopher’s task is the analysis of language. In particular it will examine the contribution made by the Oxonian philosopher Gilbert Ryle to the establishment of this conception. Module A will discuss his The Concept of Mind (1949), a classic of twentieth-century philosophy, as an example case study. During Module B, on the other hand, his conception of philosophy will be compared with others, in particular with logical positivism which preceded it with and philosophical naturalism which followed, with the specific aim of understanding what relation can exist between science and philosophy. <br />
Bibliography
A) Gilbert Ryle, Il concetto di mente, Laterza, Roma-Bari. <br />
B) Alfred Ayer, Linguaggio verità e logica, Feltrinelli, Milano. <br />
Rudolf Carnap, “Il superamento della metafisica mediante l’analisi logica del linguaggio”, in Alberto Pasquinelli (edited by), Il neoempirismo, UTET, pp. 504-532. <br />
Gilbert Ryle, “Espressioni sistematicamente fuorvianti”, in Lucia Urbani Ulivi (edited by), Gli universali e la formazione dei concetti, Edizioni di Comunità, Milano, pp. 87-116. <br />
Willard Van Orman Quine, “I due dogmi dell’empirismo”, in Alberto Pasquinelli (edited by), Il neoempirismo, UTET, pp. 861-890. <br />
