Phil. 2420: Philosophy of Language
Philosophy of Language:
Making It Explicit and Between Saying and Doing
University of Pittsburgh, Fall 2012
In this course we will read Making It Explicit and Between Saying and Doing.
  Course Information

  • Course syllabus

  • Seminar Meetings:

    Tuesdays, 1:00-4:00
    Wilfrid Sellars Seminar Room ("The Space of Reasons")
    1001 Cathedral of Learning

  • Instructor Information:

    Prof. Robert Brandom
    Office: 1001E CL
    Office Hours: tba and by appointment
    Email: rbrandom@pitt.edu
    Phone: 412-624-5776
  Schedule and Readings
Making It Explicit [Harvard U. Press, 1994] (MIE),
Between Saying and Doing: Towards an Analytic Pragmatism [Oxford U. Press, 2008] (BSD),
Articulating Reasons: An Introduction to Inferentialism [Harvard U. Press, 2001] (AR),
"Intentionality and Language" (IL),
"Conceptual Content and Discursive Practice" (CCDP),
"Hermeneutic Practices and Theories of Meaning" (HPTM),
"A Binary Sheffer Operator" (BSO),
"Anaphorically Indirect Definite Descriptions".
Please Note:
The seminar will not meet on December 4.
Week 18/28 Introduction MIE Preface, BSD Preface, IL.Lecture audio
Week 29/4 Analytic Pragmatism BSD 1. Week two questions
Lecture audio part 1
Lecture audio part 2
Week 39/11 Normative Pragmatics MIE 1.Week three questions
Lecture audio
Week 49/18 Semantic Inferentialism and Logical Expressivism MIE 2, AR 1, BSD 2.Week four questions
Lecture audio
Week 59/25 Pragmatics as Discursive Scorekeeping MIE 3, CCDP, BSD 3. Week five questions
Lecture audio
MacFarlane's GoGAR
Week 610/2 Perception and Action MIE 4, AR 2, AR 3. Week six questions
Lecture audio
Week 710/9 No class (Monday class schedule this week.)
Week 810/16 Deontic and Alethic Modal Vocabulary BSD 4, BSD 5, BSO. Week eight questions
Lecture audio part 1
Lecture audio part 2
"A Binary Sheffer Operator" (BSO)
Week 910/23 Singular Terms and Subsentential Structure MIE 6. Lecture audio part 1
Lecture audio part 2
"What are singular terms?"
Week 1010/30 Anaphora MIE 7, MIE 5. Week ten questions
Lecture audio part 1
Lecture audio part 2
"Anaphorically Indirect Def. Descriptions"
Week 1111/6 Ascriptions of Propositional Attitude MIE 8 Sections I-III, AR 5. Week eleven questions
Lecture audio
Week eleven notes
Week 1211/13 Proper Names, Indexicals, and Representation MIE 8 Sections IV-VI, AR 6. Week twelve questions
Lecture audio
Week twelve notes
Week 1311/20 Normativity, Modality, and Intentionality BSD 6. Lecture audio
Week thirteen notes
Week 1411/27 (Last Class)
Discursive Practice and Semantic and Pragmatic Theory 		MIE 9. Lecture audio
Week fourteen questions
Week 1512/4 No class
Week 1612/11 No class