Learning objectives
Students will acquire in-depth knowledge of crucial texts and problems in contemporary philosophy of language. By attending the course, they will also acquire analytical and evaluative skills, first and foremost at the logical-argumentative level, of the main philosophical theories tackled during the course. They will also develop their logical-argumentative and communicative skills with respect to the issues at the heart of the course. Moreover, they will acquire the ability to elaborate presentations and papers containing arguments in favor of their views. Finally, students will acquire decision-making skills, particularly in complex situations, which aren’t entirely analyzable in terms of codified scientific and technical knowledge.
Course unit content
Do you know thyself?
We all think we know in a direct and authoritative way our sensations, emotions, beliefs and desires. But is it really the case that we have knowledge of our own mental states which differs in kind from the one that others can have of them? And if so, is it through introspection that we obtain it?
The course, which will be divided into two modules, to secure the possibility of taking integrated courses with the other courses in the same area taught in Parma and Ferrara, aims to present the main elements of the contemporary debate concerning our knowledge of our own mental states.
In the first module we will analise the original versions of two competing theories: instrospectionism and behaviourism, as well as the alternatives to both, which can be elicited from Wittgenstien's Philosophical Investigations.
In the second module, we will analyse the present-day developments of the debate between constitutive, rationalist and expressivist theorists. This module will be in English and will be seminar-based.
Bibliography
First module
Primary literature:
Russell, B. 1912 “Knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description”, The Problems of Philosophy, Oxford University Press, ch. 5.
Ryle, G. 1949 “Descartes’ Myth”, “Self-knowledge”, The Concept of Mind, London, Penguin Books, chs. 1, 6.
Armstrong, D. 1968/1993 “Introspection”, in A Materialist Theory of the Mind, London-New York, pp. 323-338.
Gopnik, A. 1993 “How we know our minds: the illusion of first-person knowledge of intentionality”, Brain and Behavioral Sciences 16/1, pp. 1-14.
Wittgenstein 1953, Philosophical Investigations, Oxford, Blackwell, §§244-693.
Secondary literature:
Brie Gertler 2011 Self-Knowledge, London-New York, Routledge, chs. 1-4, ch. 5 (solo §§5.1-5.4).
Second module
Primary literature:
1) Shoemaker, S. 1994 “Self-knowledge and ‘inner sense’: Lecture I: The object perception model”, “Self-knowledge and ‘inner sense’: Lecture II: The broad perception model”, in The First Person Perspective and Other Essays, Cambridge, CUP, 1996, pp. 201-45.
2) Moran, R. 2001 “The authority of self-consciousness”, in Authority and Estrangement: An Essay on Self-Knowledge, Princeton, Princeton UP, ch. 4.
3) Bar-On, D. 2004 “Avowals: expression, content and truth”, ”Speaking my mind: expression, truth and self-knowledge”, in Speaking My Mind. Expression and Self-Knowledge, New York, OUP, chs. 8-9.
One paper to be chosen from:
1) Burge, T. 1996 “Our entitlement to self-knowledge”, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 96, pp. 91-116.
2) Peacocke, C. 1999 “Self-knowledge and intentional content”, in Being Known, Oxford, Clarendon Press, ch. 203-262.
One paper to be chosen from:
1) Wright, C. 1989 “Wittgenstein’s rule-following considerations and the central project of theoretical linguistics”, in Rails to Infinity, Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard University Press, 2001, pp. 170-213.
2) Bilgrami, A. 2012 “The unique status of self-knowledge”, in A. Coliva (ed.) The Self and Self-Knowledge, Oxford, OUP, ch. 12.
3) Coliva, A. 2012 “One variety of self-knowledge”, in A. Coliva (ed.) The Self and Self-Knowledge, Oxford, OUP, ch. 10.
Secondary literature:
Brie Gertler 2011 Self-Knowledge, London-New York, Routledge, chs. 5 (§§da §5.5 in avanti)-6, 8.
Teaching methods
Lectures and seminars. The former will provide students with all necessary elements for a full comprehension of the course topics. The latter will consist in students’ presentations and discussions of some specific aspects of course, under the guidance of the course instructor.
Assessment methods and criteria
Students who take both modules
Students who attend the course: Either two essays of 3000 words each (in Italian or in English), bibliographical references excluded, on two different topics of their choosing, previously agreed with the course instructor, and an oral discussion of the essays and the main topics of the course. Or else, only one essay of 6000 words (in Italian or in English), bibliographical references excluded, on a topic of their choosing, previously agreed with the course instructor, and an oral discussion of the essay and the main topics of the course.
Students who don’t attend the course: oral examination on the overall course program.
Students who take only one module
Students who attend the module: one essay of 3000 words (in Italian or in English), bibliographical references excluded, on a topic of their choosing, previously agreed with the course instructor, and an oral discussion of the essay and the main topics of the module.
Students who don’t attend the module: oral examination on the overall program of the module.
International students
International students who may not be able to follow the first part of the course in Italian will be allowed to take the whole exam, if they so wish, by writing two essays in English (of 3000 words each, bibliographical references excluded) on a topic of their choosing, previously agreed with the course instructor, concerning the first and the second part of the course respectively.
If they prefer to take only one module, they will be required to write just one essay in English (of 3000 words, bibliographical references excluded) on a topic of their choosing, previously agreed with the course instructor, concerning the module.
Evaluation criteria
Threshold for 18: sufficient comprehension of the topics, sufficient expository clarity and sufficient competence in the use of the philosophical vocabulary.
Threshold for 24: discrete comprehension of the topics, discrete expository clarity and discrete competence in the use of the philosophical vocabulary.
Threshold for 27: good comprehension of the topics, good expository clarity and good competence in the use of the philosophical vocabulary.
Threshold for 30: excellent comprehension of the topics, excellent expository clarity and excellent competence in the use of the philosophical vocabulary.
Threshold for 30 cum laude: as for 30, plus elements of originality (e.g. critical assessment of the course topics or new personal contribution to them) and/or particularly in-depth analysis of the course topics.
Students who take an integrated course: the mark obtained in one of the modules of the present course will count 50% of the overall mark. (The other 50% will be the mark obtained in the module of the course with which students will take the integrated course).
