Nonexistent Objects and

The Semantics of Fiction

Philosophy 194B

Winter Quarter 1991-1992

Professor

Prof. Edward N. Zalta, Philosophy Department
Office: Cordura Hall 226 (Campus Dr. and Panama), and 62F Phone: 723-0345 (Cordura), 723-1619 (62F)
Mailbox: in Bldg 90 (Philosophy); in Ventura Hall (next to Cordura)
Office Hours:
Electronic Mail Address: zalta@csli

Class Meetings

Tuesdays, 2:15-4:05, in Galvez Mod 124

Course Requirements

1 short class presentation (20% of your grade)
1 set of written summaries (25% of your grade)
1 term paper (40% of your grade)
Class participation (15% of your grade)
NO FINAL EXAM
COMMENTS: (1) The class presentation should be about 10-15 minutes. You should introduce the discussion for one of the topics assigned for that day. Try to narrow the important issues to think about. (2) For the set of written summaries, you are to provide one-page summaries of 10 articles listed in the Bibliography that are not assigned reading. You may summarize any of the articles listed, though it is preferred that you choose ones that have a common subject. (3) The term paper may be on a topic of your own choosing, but the topic must closely related to the work we do in class. You may develop your final paper around the topic of your class presentation, taking into account any considerations raised in class. (4) If you miss class, you can't earn the full 15%.

COURSE SCHEDULE

NOTE: Students are expected to have read the associated material by classtime of the day indicated. The references below are to papers found in the course reader, but bibliographic citations for all the papers are given at the end.

January

7

Language, Truth, and Logic
no reading

14

Meinong's Naive Theory of Nonexistent Objects
Meinong [1905], Parsons [1982a]

21

Russell and Frege on Nonexistent Objects
Russell [1905a], Russell [1919]
Frege [1892], Parsons [1982b]

28

Traditional Contemporary Approaches
Quine [1953], Donnellan [1974]

February

4

Refining Meinong's Theory: Part I
Parsons [1980], Chapters 1, 2

11

The Logic of Fictional Discourse: Part I
Parsons [1980], Chapters 3, 7

18

Refining Meinong's Theory: Part II
Zalta [1983], Introduction; Zalta [1988] Chapters 1, 2, 6
WRITTEN SUMMARIES DUE

25

The Logic of Fictional Discourse: Part II
Zalta [1988], Chapters 7, 8

March

2

Alternative Theories
van Inwagen [1977] and [1983], Searle [1975], Lewis [1978]

10

Alternative Theories
Walton [1990], Currie [1988] and [1986], Crittenden [1991]

16

TERM PAPERS DUE

Bibliographic Citations for the Readings:

GRADING POLICIES

1. The course schedule is tentative and the professor reserves the right to make changes in the schedule. Any such changes will be announced in class.

2. NO LATE WORK and NO INCOMPLETES, unless special permission is granted by the professor in advance. Such permission will be accompanied by a grade penalty, though the penalty may be waived in exceptional circumstances (such as genuine emergencies, etc.). Papers turned in late without advance permission lose one whole letter grade for each day it is late.

3. Reevaluations: Students may request a reevaluation of their work if they feel that it has been incorrectly graded. The work must be resubmitted within two weeks of the date the work was graded and returned.