Advanced Theoretical Philosophy: Topic 1

The student chooses one of the following specilaizations: Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind, or Philosophy of Language.

• For the Metaphysics specialization, there is not a required book. Readings include, for example:

Quine, W.V. On What There Is, Review of Metaphysics (1948)

Armstrong, D. excerpts from Universals: An Opinionated Introduction. Boulder, Westview.(1989)

Campbell, K. The Metaphysics of Abstract Particulars, from Midwest Studies in Phil. (1981)

Lewis, D. excerpts from On the Plurality of Worlds. Oxford: Blackwell (1986)

Haslanger, S. Endurantism and Temporary Intrinsics. Analysis (1987)

Simons, P. selections from Parts. Oxford: OUP (1990)

Schaffer, J. Is There a Fundamental Level?, Nous (2003)

All reading material can be accessed online by the students free of charge by the department.

• For the Philosophy of Mind specialization, there is one book that may not be available to students for free:

Philosophy of Mind, 3rd. Edition, Jaegwon Kim, Westview: Boulder (2010) 386 pages.

Further readings reading material can be accessed online by the students free of charge by the department and may include, for example:

Smart, J.J.C. Sensations and Brain Processes,* Philosophical Review* (1959)

Dennett, D. True Believers, in Heath (Ed.) Scientific Explanations (1981)

Ryle, G. Descartes’s Myth (excerpt from The Concept of Mind) (1949)

Levin, J. The Future of Functionalism (excerpt from Stanford Encyclopedia)

Nagel, T. What Is it Like to be a Bat? Philosophical Review (1974)

Chalmers, D. Panpsychism and Panprotopsychism, (2015) (originally Amherst Lecture)

Goff, P. Ghosts and Sparse Properties, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (2010)

• For the Philosophy of Language course, the primary book is:

Lycan, W. Philosophy of Language. A Contemporary Introduction, (3d ed.), Routledge, 2019 (ca. 220 pp.)

Further Readings include:

Frege, G. (1892). On sense and reference. Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik, 100, 25–50.

Kripke, S. (1980). Naming and necessity. Harvard University Press. (Original lectures delivered in 1972)

Haslanger, S. (2010). Language, politics and" the folk": looking for" the meaning" of 'race'. The Monist, 93(2), 169-187.

Thomasson, A. (2020). Norms and necessity. Oxford University Press.
Grice, H. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole & J. L. Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and semantics (Vol. 3, pp. 41–58). Academic Press.

Austin, J. (1975). How to do things with words. Oxford University Press.

Plunkett, D., & Sundell, T. (2013). Disagreement and the semantics of normative and evaluative terms. Philosophers’ Imprint, 13(23).

GU 2025/1965