An Introduction to the Philosophy of Language

Michael Morris is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sussex. He is author of The Good and the True (1992) and numerous articles.

• Introduction; 1. Locke and the nature of language; 2. Frege on sense and reference; 3. Russell on definite descriptions; 4. Kripke on proper names; 5. Natural-kind terms; 6. Quine on de dicto and de re modality; 7. Reference and propositional attitudes; 8. The semantics of propositional attitudes; 9. Davidson on truth and meaning; 10. Quine and Davidson on translation and interpretation; 11. Quine on the indeterminacy of translation; 12. Austin on speech acts; 13. Grice on meaning; 14. Kripke on the rule-following paradox; 15. Wittgenstein on the Augustinian picture.

"'This is a knowledgeable and very useful addition to contemporary introductions to the philosophy of language, somewhere in difficulty between Lycan's 2008 and Taylor's (1998) worthy texts. It is the right size for a 15-week semester course, at one chapter a week (students like to use what they buy) ...this book will give any motivated student a good survey of the subject." --Robert Harnish, University of Arizona, Philosphy in Review