Admission requirements
Admission to this course is restricted to:
BA students in Filosofie and Philosophy: Global and Comparative Perspectives
International pre-master’s students in Philosophy who are in possession of an admission statement, and for whom this course is part of their programme.
Description
What is the relationship between language and the world? How should we think of what could have been and what is necessarily the case? What is the relationship between necessity and a priori knowledge? Do objects have essences? What does the name "Sherlock Holmes" refer to?
The work of Saul Kripke takes center stage in this course, although we will be situating it in the history of analytic philosophy. The views that Kripke defends are now the springboard for much current work in analytic philosophy, due to the persuasive arguments and powerful insights that Kripke provides. Kripke's text, Naming and Necessity (1981), has had a decisive influence on contemporary philosophy of language, metaphysics and the philosophy of the mind, and many consider Kripke's argumentation in Naming and Necessity analytic philosophy at its best.
We will not only carefully read Kripke's Naming and Necessity, cover to cover, we will also discuss ideas of Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, Quine and David Lewis, among others.
Course objectives
This course aims for a thorough grasp of Kripke early work, including the philosophical background it emerged from and the philosophical debates it sparked.
Students who successfully complete the course will have a good understanding of:
Kripke’s views on a range of topics, including the relationship between modality and meaning, the possibility of necessary a posteriori truths, the epistemic role of thought experiments, the ontology of non-existent objects and the boundary between semantics and pragmatics;
a number of important concepts, including rigid designators, possible worlds and externalism;
important ideas and concepts from the work of Frege, Russell, Quine, Lewis, Wittgenstein, and other influential philosophers in (early and more contemporary) analytic philosophy.
Students who successfully complete this course will have practiced and developed their skills in:
explaining verbally concepts, theories and arguments on a range of central topics in analytic philosophy (including parts of its history);
independently researching academic work in analytic philosophy;
analysing the class material in order to answer a set question at the end of class in writing;
having fruitful philosophical discussions with fellow students in class.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
- Seminar
Assessment method
Assessment
In-class writing assignments (20%)
Oral exam (80%)
The oral exam will consist of questions about the topics discussed in class as well as questions that ask to take positions on issues and support them with argumentation. Sufficient attendance is required for admission to the oral examination and to the resit.
Weighing
The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average. To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher.
Resit
Resits for the individual partial exams are not offered. The resit consists of an oral exam, replacing all previously obtained partial grades (100% of the final result).
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Feedback on the oral exam will be provided orally, right after the oral exam.
Reading list
- Kripke, S. A. (1981), Naming and Necessity. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN: 978-0-631-12801-4. Students will need to buy this book, preferably before the start of the course.
Further readings will be made accessible via Brightspace. All readings need to be studied at home before the relevant seminar.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Huizinga
Remarks
Not applicable.