Philosophy

The nature and functions of language: Language as social institution, arbitrary nature of language, symbolic nature of language, language as a tool, language as communicative, language and mind, language and thought, language and reality. Meaning: word meaning and sentence meaning; reference and meaning, meaning and speech acts, emotive and prescriptive meanings; intention and meaning; meaning and use; discourse theory of meaning; Reference: proper names, denoting words, logically proper names, referring expressions, definite descriptions, identifying expressions, rigid designators.

The concept of language in the philosophy of Wittgenstein. Meaning and Use. Symptom and Criteria. The Speech Act analysis of language: views of Austin and Searle. Names and Natural kind terms; view of Quine, Ryle, Strawson, Donnellan, Putnam and Kripke. Ethics and Language: Moore: Natural and Non-natural Properties; `Good` as a simple notion. Stevenson: Disagreement in belief and in Attitude; Persuasive Argument. Universalizability, Moral Argument, Reason in Ethics: Views of Hare and Toulmin.

Some Methodological Questions.
(a) Analysis and Philosophy
(b) Philosophy and Argument Scepticism and Rational Justification for Knowledge; A Historical Perspective. (a) Academic vs. Pyrrhonian Scepticism (b) Contemporary Philosophy Scepticism about Senses/Objects and the Problem of Perception. (a) The Problem (b) The Argument from Illusion

Mind-Body problem: Interactionism, Instrumentalism, Physicalism, Epiphenomenalism, Dualism, Parallelism, Materialism, Non-Materialistic view of mind, Concept of person/personal identity.