(in Polish) Reading "Propositional Content" 3800-RPC26-S-OG

The seminar shall be devoted to Peter Hanks’s book “Propositional Content”. Oxford: Oxford University
Press. (2015).
Peter Hanks defends a new theory about the nature of propositional content, according to which the basic
bearers of representational properties are particular mental or spoken actions. Propositions are types of these
actions, which we use to classify and individuate our attitudes and speech acts. Hanks rejects several key
features of the traditional Fregean conception of content, including the idea that propositions are the primary
bearers of truth-conditions and the distinction between content and force. The book offers a systematic
account of the unity of the proposition and develops new solutions to central problems in philosophy of
language.
During the seminar students will read and discuss selected chapters of the book, reconstruct Hanks’s
arguments, compare them with rival views, and examine their consequences for semantics, theories of
reference, propositional attitudes, and speech acts. The seminar will combine close textual analysis with
student presentations and guided discussion.
Main topics of the seminar include:
- the nature of propositional content
- the unity of the proposition
- predication
- the content-force distinction
- proper names and empty names
- propositional attitude reports
- first-person propositions
- asking and ordering as speech acts

Course coordinators

Tadeusz Ciecierski

Type of course

elective seminars

Prerequisites (description)

(in Polish) Students should know the basics of logic, semiotics, and philosophy of language, and should be familiar with English to the extent that they can read philosophical English-language texts, participate in discussions, and prepare a presentation or a short paper.

Learning outcomes

The student knows at an extended level the main terminology of contemporary philosophy of language in
Polish and English concerning propositions, propositional content, predication, reference, propositional
attitudes, and speech acts. The student understands selected positions in contemporary analytic philosophy of
language and has a thorough knowledge of methods of interpreting philosophical texts and reconstructing
arguments (KW03, KW05, KW08, KW09, KW11).

Students will be able to interpret advanced philosophical texts, reconstruct and critically evaluate arguments,
compare competing theories of propositions and meaning, formulate arguments in favour of particular theses,
and use philosophical knowledge in critical analysis of issues from philosophy of language and semiotics
(KU03, KU04, KU05, KU08, KU09, KU14, KU16).

A student is able to cooperate and work in a group, taking various roles in it, present arguments clearly,
participate in substantive discussion, and respond responsibly to criticism (KK06).

Assessment criteria

1) Regular attendance and active participation in discussion,

2) Delivering a presentation on a selected chapter or problem,

3) Preparing a joint research project connected with the topic of the seminar

Number of absences available per semeter: 2

Bibliography

Hanks, Peter (2015). Propositional Content. Oxford: Oxford University Press.