Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the second semester
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
Students outside Université de Liège who would like to attend to this seminar are requested to contact Samuel Descarreaux and Bruno Leclercq in September.
The seminar will be devoted to some of Charles Sanders Peirce's mots original contributions to the philosophy of language, as well as to their contemporary legacies :
1) Introduction : index, icons, symbols
- Peirce, « On the Algebra of Logic: A Contribution to the Philosophy of Notation » (1885), section sur les trois sortes de signes.
- Burks, « Icon, Index, and Symbol », Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (1949).
2) Semiotic triangle : symbol, sense and reference
- Frege, « Über Sinn und Bedeutung » (1892).
- Russell, « On Denoting » (1905).
- Peirce, « Pragmatism » (1907, MS 318), EP2 - sur l'expérience collatérale ; lettres à Lady Welby (1908), EP2.
3) Figuration and iconicity : picture theory and its fate
- Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 2.1-2.225, 3-3.5, 4.01-4.06 ; Recherches philosophiques, §§115, 139-141, 191-201.
- Peirce, CP 2.276-277 (les trois hypoicônes) ; « Prolegomena to an Apology for Pragmaticism » (1906), EP2, extraits (CP 4.530-534 et 4.571-572) ; « Some Consequences of Four Incapacities » (1868), EP1, pour la troisième séance.
- Goodman, Languages of Art (1968), ch. 1.
4) Index and direct reference
- Reichenbach, Elements of Symbolic Logic (1947), §50, sur les token-reflexive words.
- Kaplan, « Demonstratives » (1977/1989), §§ I-IV ; Perry, « The Problem of the Essential Indexical » (1979).
5) The pragmatiste maxim and its verificationiste reading
- Peirce, « How to Make Our Ideas Clear » (1878), EP1 ; « What Pragmatism Is » (1905), EP2.
- Peirce, « Issues of Pragmaticism » (1905), EP2 (= CP 5.438-463), pour les would-bes.
- James, Pragmatism (1907), leçon II.
- Ayer, Language, Truth and Logic (1936), ch. 1 ; Carnap, « Testability and Meaning », Philosophy of Science (1936-37).
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
Knowledge of some of the issues in contemporary philosophy of language
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Preferably introduction to analytic philosophy or to philosophy of language
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face course
Further information:
Teaching will be given in Room Commu II (A1/2/24b) on Fridays (from 11 am to 1 pm) in the second term (from February till May) starting from February 5 2027.
Teaching will be organized as a seminar with students taking active part of it. Their presence at each session is thus required.
Course materials and recommended or required readings
Platform(s) used for course materials:
- eCampus
- MyULiège
Further information:
Texts will be provided.
References :
1) Introduction : index, icons, symbols
- Peirce, « On the Algebra of Logic: A Contribution to the Philosophy of Notation » (1885), section sur les trois sortes de signes.
- Burks, « Icon, Index, and Symbol », Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (1949).
2) Semiotic triangle : symbol, sense and reference
- Frege, « Über Sinn und Bedeutung » (1892).
- Russell, « On Denoting » (1905).
- Peirce, « Pragmatism » (1907, MS 318), EP2 - sur l'expérience collatérale ; lettres à Lady Welby (1908), EP2.
3) Figuration and iconicity : picture theory and its fate
- Wittgenstein, Tractatus, 2.1-2.225, 3-3.5, 4.01-4.06 ; Recherches philosophiques, §§115, 139-141, 191-201.
- Peirce, CP 2.276-277 (les trois hypoicônes) ; « Prolegomena to an Apology for Pragmaticism » (1906), EP2, extraits (CP 4.530-534 et 4.571-572) ; « Some Consequences of Four Incapacities » (1868), EP1, pour la troisième séance.
- Goodman, Languages of Art (1968), ch. 1.
4) Index and direct reference
- Reichenbach, Elements of Symbolic Logic (1947), §50, sur les token-reflexive words.
- Kaplan, « Demonstratives » (1977/1989), §§ I-IV ; Perry, « The Problem of the Essential Indexical » (1979).
5) The pragmatiste maxim and its verificationiste reading
- Peirce, « How to Make Our Ideas Clear » (1878), EP1 ; « What Pragmatism Is » (1905), EP2.
- Peirce, « Issues of Pragmaticism » (1905), EP2 (= CP 5.438-463), pour les would-bes.
- James, Pragmatism (1907), leçon II.
- Ayer, Language, Truth and Logic (1936), ch. 1 ; Carnap, « Testability and Meaning », Philosophy of Science (1936-37).
Exam(s) in session
Any session
- In-person
written exam ( open-ended questions )
Continuous assessment
Further information:
Oral exam based on the study of some of the texts
50% of the final evaluation depends on the participation to the seminar
Use of AI (ChatGPT and any other tool for analyzing data, summarizing texts or writing essays) :
See https://www.student.uliege.be/cms/c_19230399/en/uliege-charter-for-the-use-of-generative-artificial-intelligence-in-academic-work
Work placement(s)
Organisational remarks and main changes to the course
Contacts
S. DESCARREAUX & B. LECLERCQ
Département de Philosophie
7, place du 20 août - 4000 Liège
sdescarreaux@uliege.be - B.Leclercq@uliege.be