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Johns Hopkins University | AS.150.601

Topics in Philosophy of Language

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In the 1950s, Noam Chomsky asked a very productive question: what kind of theoretical vocabulary do we want for purposes of specifying grammars for the languages that human children naturally acquire? In the seminar, we’ll revisit this question, focusing on the meanings that these grammars connect with pronunciations. Should we be trying to specify these meanings in terms of an externalistic notion like truth, or as I suspect, in terms of more internalistic notions that involve a computationally simple language of thought? In what ways are meanings recursive? How should we specify the relevant composition procedures for meanings and the corresponding concepts that are available to children? Readings will be organized around chapters of a draft book manuscript, The Vocabulary of Meanings

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