PY4613: ANALYTICAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE LATER 20th CENTURY: QUINE

Semester 2: February 2006-May 2006.

Number of students: 16.

Course Organiser: Patrick Greenough

Course Lecturers: Philip Ebert , Patrick Greenough, and Marcus Rossberg

COURSE OVERVIEW

Perhaps the most influential philosopher of the late 20th Century was W.V. Quine, whose uncompromising attacks on the notions of meaning, analyticity, the apriori, fact, correspondence, necessity, essence, kind, and universal, fixed the philosophical agenda for some 20-30 years. In this unit, we will outline and evaluate all the main themes and arguments in Quine's work with the aim of seeing whether and in what way Quine is relevant for philosophy in the 21st Century.

 

LECTURES WEEK BY WEEK

Week 1: Clearing the ontological slum: singular terms. (Patrick Greenough)

Week 2: Clearing the ontological slum: mass terms, general terms, and abstract nouns. (Patrick Greenough)

Week 3: Analyticity and the apriori. (Philip Ebert)

Week 4: Behaviourism, empiricism, holism. (Patrick Greenough)

Week 5: The indeterminacy of translation. (Patrick Greenough) LECTURE POSTPONED

Week 6: Quine on logic I (Marcus Rossberg)

Week 7: Quine on logic II (Patrick Greenough)

TWO WEEK BREAK …

Week 9: Modality and modal logic. (Marcus Rossberg)

Week 9: The indeterminacy of translation. (Patrick Greenough) LECTURE POSTPONED

Week 10 (Tuesday slot 5-6): The indeterminacy of translation. (Patrick Greenough)

Week 10: Natural kinds. (Patrick Greenough)

Week 11: Naturalized epistemology. (Philip Ebert)

 

OVERHEADS:

Lecture One: Clearing the ontological slum: singular terms.

Lecture Two: Clearing the ontological slum: mass terms, general terms, and abstract nouns.

Lecture Three: Analyticity and the apriori.

Lecture Four: Behaviourism, empiricism, holism.

Lecture Five: Quine on Logic I

Lecture Six: Quine on Logic II

Lecture Seven: Modality and modal logic.

Lecture Eight: The Indeterminacy of Translation.

Lecture Nine: Natural Kinds.

Lecture Ten: Naturalised Epistemology.

LECTURES: TIME AND PLACE

Day: Fridays.

Time: 11-1pm

Place: Room 104, Edgecliffe.

Please note:

  • Missing one lecture is OK, but if you miss two or more you will certainly struggle to keep up.
  • Please bring all relevant reading materials with you to the lecture (e.g. set text, relevant photocopies, and previous handouts).

SEMINARS

Day: Tuesdays.

Time: 5-6pm

Place: Room G03, Edgecliffe.

Please note:

  • Bring all relevant course materials (handouts, relevant photocopies, etc) to each seminar.
  • VERY IMPORTANT: Make sure you are properly prepared for each seminar by doing all the set reading and answering any set questions.
  • There will be two articles to read most weeks.
  • Many students find it very useful to get their heads together before a seminar to discuss the key questions and issues -- I strongly encourage you to do so. That way, learning and thinking becomes easier and much more of a pleasure. 

READING FOR THE COURSE

·         The set text for the course is:

          Quine (1953): From a Logical Point of View, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, second edition, revised.

This is available to buy here and here and here.

PLEASE NOTE: There is also a coursepack of set readings available from Rhona Paterson for a modest fee.

SEMINAR SCHEDULE AND SET READING

Seminar 1. (week 2): Clearing the ontological slum: singular terms. (Patrick Greenough)

Essential reading: Quine: ‘On What There Is’, in From a Logical Point of View, Cambridge, MA: HUP, 1953.

Optional reading: Quine: ‘Existence and Quantification’, in Ontological Relativity and Other Essays, New York: Columbia University Press, 1969.

Seminar 2. (week 3): Clearing the ontological slum: mass terms, general terms, and abstract nouns. (P Greenough)

Essential reading: Quine: ‘Identity, Ostension, and Hypostasis’, in From a Logical Point of View, Cambridge, MA: HUP, 1953.

Optional reading: Quine: ‘The Ontogenesis of Reference’, ch.3 of Word and Object, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1960

Seminar 3. (week 4): Analyticity and the apriori. (Philip Ebert)

Essential reading: Quine ‘Two Dogmas of Empiricism’, in From a Logical Point of View, Cambridge, MA: HUP, 1953.

Seminar 4. (week 5): Behavourism, empiricism, holism. (Patrick Greenough)

Essential reading: Quine: ‘Use and Its Place in Meaning’, in Theories and Things, Cambridge, MA: HUP, 1981.

Essential reading: Quine: ‘Three Indeterminacies’, in Perspectives on Quine, Oxford: Blackwells, 1990.

Seminar 5. (week 6): The indeterminacy of translation. (Patrick Greenough) SEMINAR CANCELLED

Essential reading: Quine: ‘Translation and Meaning’, ch.2 of Word and Object, MA: MIT Press, 1960.

Seminar 6. (week 7): Quine on logic I. (Marcus Rossberg)

Essential Reading: Quine: ‘Logical truth’, ch.4 of Philosophy of Logic, Cambridge, MA: HUP, 1970.

Optional reading: Quine: ‘Truth by Convention’, in The Ways of Paradox and Other Essays, Cambridge, MA: HUP,1966.

TWO WEEK BREAK …

Seminar 7. (week 8): Quine on logic II. (Patrick Greenough)

Essential reading: Quine: ‘What Price Bivalence?’, Theories and Things, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1981.

Essential reading: Quine: ‘Deviant Logics’, ch.6 of Philosophy of Logic, Cambridge, MA: HUP, 1970.

Seminar 8. (week 9): Modality and modal logic. (Marcus Rossberg)

Essential reading: Quine: ‘Reference and Modality’, in From a Logical Point of View, Cambridge, MA: HUP, 1953.

Optional reading: Quine: ‘Three Grades of Modal Involvement’, in The Ways of Paradox and Other Essays, Cambridge, MA: HUP, 1966.

Seminar 9. (week 10): The indeterminacy of translation. (Patrick Greenough) This is the postponed lecture….

Essential reading: Quine: ‘Translation and Meaning’, ch.2 of Word and Object, MA: MIT Press, 1960.

Seminar 10. (week 11): Natural kinds. (Patrick Greenough)

Essential reading: Quine: ‘Natural kinds’, in Ontological Relativity and Other Essays, New York: Columbia University Press, 1969.

Seminar 11. (week 11): Naturalized epistemology. (Philip Ebert) [Time/day to be arranged.]

Essential reading: Quine: ‘Epistemology Naturalised’, in Ontological Relativity and Other Essays, New York: Columbia University Press, 1969.

Revision reading: (I expect you to read this before the exam.)

Essential reading: Quine: ‘Ontological Relativity’, in Ontological Relativity and Other Essays, New York: Columbia University Press, 1969.

HANDOUTS

  • There will be detailed handouts for each lecture.
  • However, please note that these handouts will often be deliberately incomplete--by coming to the lecture you will be able to complete and enlarge upon the missing sections.
  • Indeed, even the parts that are complete will not make much sense unless you come to the lectures.
  • At the end of every handout there will be a set of comprehension questions and discussion questions which relate to both the content of the lecture and the set reading.
  • Comprehension questions are designed to test your basic knowledge of the key terms, main theses, and basic moves concerning a particular problem.
  • Discussion questions, on the other hand, are designed to get you thinking about how one might best evaluate, reshape, and resolve a philosophical problem.
  • You should attempt all of these questions each week ¾ your seminar leader will want to ask you about your answers in the seminars.
  • The handouts will also guide you as to what is most relevant to read for each particular topic.

ASSESSMENT

  • This is a 30 credit module.
  • Assessment is by 3 hour exam in May and one coursework essay (see below).
  • The overall grade for each module will be published by the University at the end of the semester in which it is taught.
  • Grades will be given on the 20-point marking scale: 17-20 Distinction / First Class; 14-16 High Merit / Upper Second Class; 11-13 Low Merit / Lower Second Class; 8-10 Third Class; 5-7 Pass; 1-4 Fail/no credit awarded.

Please Note: It is expected that you will be familiar, and will comply, with the regulations given in the honours handbook:

WHAT WE EXPECT OF YOU

  • The overall aim of this course is to make you think critically for yourself rather than merely reproducing the ideas of others.
  • Philosophy is not about spoon-feeding received facts which must be duly regurgitated in essays and exams.
  • The students at St. Andrews are amongst the brightest and most stimulating students in the UK. Nobody wants a university to be an educational factory which takes in such bright students yet ends up turning out mindless, dull, vapid, individuals whose only skill consists in memorising lecture notes. This course is designed to avoid that. Hence, in order properly fulfil your potential I simply ask you to meet the course halfway.
  • Lectures are simply there in order to introduce you to the key philosophical problems and suggest some possible lines of response.
  • The lectures and seminars are thus simply a springboard for you to go on and read and think for yourself.
  • Outside of lectures and seminars we fully expect you to be reading and researching the topics for yourself (as well as having a good time).
  • As this is a 30 credit course, this means it should constitute about two fifths of your workload this semester.
  • Assuming a 36 hour week, you should plan to spend about fourteen hours per week on average on this module: two hours for lectures and seminars, leaving twelve to thirteen hours for private study.
  • Private study should consist of reading your lecture notes and handouts, preparing for the seminars and doing some additional reading and research relevant to the topic.
  • Thinking for yourself, doing independent research, showing initiative, and taking appropriate intellectual risks will be rewarded highly.

Please note: You should consult your email every few days as it is assumed by all course lecturers, seminar instructors, and tutors that email is the default method of communication.

COURSEWORK ESSAY

  • The course essay for PY4613 is due in by 4pm Friday 28th April (the Friday of Week Ten).
  • Your essay should be no more than 3500 words in length (excluding bibliography but including all quotes and footnotes).
  • The essay questions are:

(1) What does the slogan ‘No entity without identity’ amount to and what role should it play in our theory of what there is?

(2) In what ways, if any, should we be sceptics about meaning?

(3) What does the indeterminacy of translation tell us about meaning and reference?

(4) Is Quine’s conception of logic defensible?

(5) What is Quine’s attack on the analytic-synthetic distinction and is it successful?

 FURTHER DETAILS:

  • Your essay and examination answers should not overlap in content.
  • You are strongly encouraged to ensure that your essay is either typed or word processed (rather than hand-written).
  • Work that is not legible will be returned.
  • You should make three copies of your essay
  • Submit two copies and keep the third for yourself.
  • Make sure you attach and sign a 'Declaration of Own Work' form with your essay (copies are available by the essay box).
  • Essays should be only "posted" in the essay box on the ground-floor of Edgecliffe.
  • Essays should be marked with your name, your tutor's name, the module number, and the title.
  • Essays will be returned with grades and brief comments normally within two/three weeks of submission.
  • There are stringent rules as to the granting of an extension (be warned: we hardly ever do so).
  • Normally extensions can only be granted for certified illness or serious personal difficulties.
  • Plagiarism (passing someone else's work off as your own without acknowledgement) will be very harshly punished and may lead to you failing your degree.

ADDITIONAL READING: SEMINAR BY SEMINAR

  • You can find a set of additional readings for each seminar here (to be posted up shortly)

Please Note: Many of the books recommended for reading during the course should be available from the Philosophy Class Library, as well as from the University Library. We recommend that you learn to use the Philosophy Class Library system, since many of the books you will need to consult will be on restricted access. The Departmental Librarian, Mrs Read, is extremely helpful and efficient and will be glad to assist you.

QUINE: SOME KEY TEXTS (in descending order of usefulness for the purpose of this course).

  • Alex Orenstein (2002): Quine, Acumen.
  • Christopher Hookway (1998): Quine : Language, Experience and Reality, Oxford: Polity Press.  
  • Roger Gibson (ed.) (2004): The Cambridge Companion to Quine, Cambridge: CUP.
  • L.E. Hahn and P.A. Schlipp (eds) (1998):  The Philosophy of W.V Quine,enlarged edition.
  • Robert Barrett and Roger Gibson (eds) (1990): Perspectives on Quine, Oxford: Blackwells.
  • Donald Davidson and Jakko Hintikka (eds) (1975): Words and Objections, Dordrecht: Reidel.
  • Dagfinn Føllesdal (ed.) (2000): The Philosophy of Quine, New York: Garland Press.
  • Alex Orenstein and P. Kotako (eds) (2000): Knowledge, Language, and Logic: Questions for Quine, Dordrecht: Kluwer.
  • George D. Romanos (1983): Quine and Analytic Philosophy, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • W.V Quine (1985): The Time of My Life: An Autobiography, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

ELECTRONIC RESOURCES FOR QUINE (hosted by his son Richard Boynton Quine)

 

          http://www.wvquine.org/wvq-toc.html

 

GENERAL ELECTRONIC RESOURCES

 ENCYCLOPAEDIAS:

DICTIONARIES:

DATABASES:

(Note: no password required for local access; contact jmy@st-and.ac.uk for password for remote access.)

ON-LINE JOURNALS:

  • Many Philosophy Journals can be accessed on-line at:

http://www-library.st-andrews.ac.uk/External/Journals/philosophy.html

VERY USEFUL WEB LINKS:

FEEDBACK

  • There will be questionnaires to fill in at the end of the course where you can give formal feedback.
  • Please make every effort to fill these questionnaires in ¾ your views are VERY gratefully received.
  • Informal feedback can be given at any time to me by email or in person.
  • If you are struggling with the course, please sing out as soon as possible.
  • Remember: perplexity is the natural philosophical state, so don't be overly-concerned if you find parts of the course very hard or confusing.
  • Don't be afraid to raise any concerns you may have.
  • In general, if you are experiencing problems, personal or academic, which are affecting your work, you should let someone know (your lecturer, your seminar instructor or tutor, your Honours Supervisor, or staff at the Student Support Service) as soon as possible.

HOW TO WRITE A PHILOSOPHY ESSAY

  • Very useful advice on how to write a philosophy is essay is available from:

Jim Pryor's Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper

Andrew Pyle's On Writing a Philosophy Essay.

HOW TO SUCCEED IN EXAMS

  • I've written some guidance on how to succeed in exams. You can find it here.

UNIVERSITY COURSES ON: note-taking, essay-writing, and exam technique.

  • Did you know that the university puts on courses for all undergraduates in how to take notes, write essays, and succeed in exams?
  • You need to sign up for these courses in advance. Details can be found at the following link:

PAST PAPERS AND THE STRUCTURE OF THE JAN 2006 EXAM

  • Note that as this is a new course there are no past papers for this exam. The two following mock exams should give you some idea as to what to expect:

 To be posted up in due course.

© Patrick Greenough 2006.

If you have any suggestions as to how this site might be improved then please email me.


Philosophy at St Andrews

Last modified: 23rd April 2006.