The Meaning of Meaning

Catalog description

Focuses on the various perspectives about meaning that have developed in the philosophical literature and their applications to actual language use as uncovered by linguists and anthropologists. Efforts to understand the meaning of meaning have been carried out in a variety of disciplines; philosophy, psychology, literary studies, artificial intelligence, linguistics and anthropology. Although the course will touch on many of these areas, the focus is on the work in the disciplines of philosophy, linguistics, and anthropology. The course will also cover the social and ethical implications of the different approaches to the meaning of meaning.