Syllabus: Philosophy of Language (PHI 205)

Illinois State, Fall 2026

Basic Information

Instructor: David Sanson
Office: Stevenson 341

Class Meetings: MW 2:00–3:15PM, 229 Stevenson Hall
Office Hours: M noon–1:00PM; W 11:00AM–noon

Course Description

Philosophy of Language is the branch of philosophy that deals with philosophical problems and puzzles related to language. That might seem obvious, but you cannot always trust labels: they say that the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire.

Philosophical problems often raise questions about language, and language itself is a rich source of philosophical problems and puzzles. In this course, we will not attempt to cover all these problems and puzzles. In fact, the topics we cover reflect a somewhat narrow set of concerns, shaped by the philosophical concerns of the 20th century.

Class

I will run this class as a combination of lecture, whole-class discussion, group discussion, and in-class exercises.

In a typical week, Monday’s class will begin with a lecture, introducing a new topic, followed by whole-class or group discussion. Wednesday’s class will continue on the same topic, with a combination of follow-up discussion and in-class writing exercises.

I have a definite agenda for this class: there is material I want to get through and things I want you to learn. But ultimately, it is up to you all to shape the trajectory of our discussions. So it is important that you come to each class prepared and ready to engage.

Reading Assignments

In a typical week, you will be asked to read one or two journal articles. You should plan to do this reading before our Monday meeting, and then do it again before our Wednesday meeting. You need to do the reading before our Monday meeting, or you will be lost. You need to do it again after our Monday meeting, when you will be in a better position to actually understand what the reading is about.

Optional readings are optional, but you should try to make time to read some of them. We don’t have time to cover very much in this class, so we will be scratching the surface of several different topics. Also, given the nature of this material, we will often be reading older “foundational” articles rather than contemporary cutting edge research. Doing some of the optional readings will help fill these gaps, and give you a better understanding of the field.

Writing Assignments

There are no required out-of-class writing assignments for this class.

As mentioned above, a typical Wednesday will involve some in-class writing exercises. These will be collected and graded pass-fail. As long as you are there and making a sincere effort to complete the exercise, you should pass.

There are also four “writing days” spread through the term. On these days, I will distribute essay prompts, and ask you to write essays, using pen and paper, in response to these prompts. These are writing days, not exams: the goal is not to test your knowledge of facts; the goal is to give you the opportunity to work through a philosophical problem in writing, in a form that is more detailed and extended than typical in-class writing exercises allow. These will be collected and treated as essays: each will receive written feedback and a letter grade.

Co-teaching

This will depend on the exact size of our class. If class size allows, you will each be assigned a week in which you (and perhaps a partner) are responsible for “leading” discussion. You will (perhaps with your partner) prepare a plan (following a provided template), and we will meet the week before to go over and refine your plan.

Grades

My settled view is that grading causes more problems than it solves. The main problem it solves is motivation: the threat/promise of a grade helps motivate you to do work for this class when you lack that motivation or when the motivation you have is not strong enough to overcome other demands on your time.

But over-reliance on this form of external motivation fundamentally changes your educational experience. The point of this class is to give you the opportunity to explore some really neat parts of philosophy and figure out for yourself what you think about them. For that to work, you need to take ownership of your engagement with the course. Slogging through the readings with an eye toward passing a reading quiz or exam doesn’t cut it.

The other problem grading solves is the problem of sorting and ranking students by merit. But that is not a practice I agree with. Every student is different, and has different strengths and weaknesses. I want you to be the strongest student you can be, and I want to help you succeed at that. I do care about the difference between a student who learns the material and a student who fails to do so, and I do have views about what makes some students especially great, which I am happy to report in letters of recommendation. But I have no interest in reducing you to an “A”, “B”, “C”, “D”, or “F” student. But you all signed up for a grade, and I must give you grades.

So, here is our first problem to figure out together. How?

Proposal: attendance: \(10\%\); pass-fail exercises: \(10\%\); co-teaching: \(20\%\); in-class essays: \(15\% \times 4 = 60\%\)

I am open to giving different “weights” for each of these components. I said above I will give the in-class essays letter grades. I am open to doing something else. I am open to including credit for participation. (I am not willing to define that using some sort of scorecard that counts how many times you speak up.) I am open to doing something during our “final exam” period—for example, we could use that as an additional extended time writing day, or we could shift the fourth writing day to that time instead.

Attendance

Absences impact your ability to complete in-class work. They also deprive you of the opportunity to learn from lecture and discussion. Note that this is true for both excused on unexcused absences: exercises designed to be done in class in conjunction with discussion cannot be replicated outside of class; getting notes from someone about what we discussed is not the same as being part of that discussion yourself.

You are responsible for attending class and completing all assigned academic work. You should familiarize yourself with University policy to understand which absences are excused and which are not. If you need advice on how to manage an extended absence or want notification of your absence sent to your instructors, contact the Dean of Students Office.

Accommodations

Any student needing to arrange a reasonable accommodation for a documented disability and/or medical/mental health condition should contact Student Access and Accommodation Services at 308 Fell Hall, Office Phone (309) 438-5853, Video Phone (309) 319-7682 or visit the website at <StudentAccess.IllinoisState.edu>.

I am also open to arranging reasonable accommodation regardless of documentation. If there is something you need, ask.

Academic Integrity

You are expected to be honest in all academic work, consistent with the academic integrity policy as outlined in the Code of Student Conduct and any additional syllabus language. All work is to be appropriately cited when it is borrowed, directly or indirectly, from another source. Unauthorized and/or unacknowledged collaboration on any work, or the presentation of someone else’s work as your own, is a form of academic dishonesty under the Code of Student Conduct.

Content generated by an Artificial Intelligence third-party service or site (AI-generated content) without proper authorization and attribution is a form of academic dishonesty. If you are unsure about whether something used in your work requires attribution, please reach out to me to discuss it as soon as possible. Allegations of academic dishonesty will be referred to Student Conduct and Community Responsibilities, for review under the Student Code of Conduct. Students found responsible for academic dishonesty may also be assigned a grade penalty by the instructor.

Generative AI Use Not Permitted

In this course, the use of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Adobe Firefly, Google AI Mode, or Apple Intelligence is not permitted to support the completion of any assigned work. This includes, but is not limited to, using generative AI tools to ideate, pre-plan, edit, translate, or otherwise create original material you claim to be solely your creation. Use of a generative AI tool to complete assigned work in whole or in part may be referred under the Code of Student Conduct academic dishonesty provisions for further action by the Dean of Students Office.

Permission Required to Record

Students who wish to use phones or other audio or video devices to record classroom lectures/discussions or take photographs must obtain written permission from the instructor except with an approved accommodation from Student Access and Accommodations Services. Approved recordings are to be used solely for the purposes of individual or group study with other students enrolled in the class. They may not be reproduced, shared with those not enrolled in the class, or uploaded to publicly accessible web environments. Violation of this classroom rule may result in referral to the Student Conduct and Community Responsibilities (SCCR) office for disciplinary action.