Course Syllabus

24.899: Topics in Linguistics and Philosophy

Fall, 2020

Topic: Conditionals

Instructors: Kai von Fintel, Sabine Iatridou, Justin Khoo

  • Schedule a meeting with Justin
  • Schedule a meeting with Kai
  • To schedule a meeting with Sabine, please write to iatridou@mit.edu

Linguistics TF: Enrico Flor 

Philosopher TF: Kelly Gaus

Thursdays, 2-5pm via Zoom 

 

About the Course

This course aims to bring together our two sections to explore issues surrounding conditionals from the perspective of both philosophy and linguistics. We'll discuss topics from foundational puzzles in the philosophy of language to cross-linguistic work on the syntax and semantics of conditional constructions. One of our larger goals will be to illustrate some areas for fruitful interaction between philosophy and linguistics. 

 

Assignments

Since this is an interdisciplinary class, and since we are not presupposing existing knowledge of either philosophy of linguistics, we plan to pair up enrolled students with a buddy from the other section. You and your buddy should feel free to talk about the readings, ask each other questions, and even collaborate. In addition, there will be a Linguistics TF and a Philosopher TF available to answer background questions, which may include confusions about methodology or terminology. 

All students enrolled in the course must send us reflections or questions about the readings to be discussed each week. We will use these comments and questions to structure the class discussion. 

In addition, enrolled students must submit a term paper that engages significantly with the themes of the course; the paper should aim to be 15-25 pages in length. The term paper is officially due December 16. You may alternatively wish to take an incomplete and finish the paper over IAP. If you do so, you must submit a draft of your paper by December 16

 

Grades

Participation: 10%

Weekly reflections: 40%

Final paper: 50%

 

Syllabus

All readings available here. 

9/3

Introductory Material

Hajek: "Most Counterfactuals are False"

Iatridou: "Grammar Matters"
9/10

Strict/Variably Strict 1

Lewis, "Counterfactuals Chapter 1"

von Fintel, "Counterfactuals in a dynamic context"

Moss, "On the pragmatics of counterfactuals"
9/17

Strict/Variably Strict 2

Lewis, "Counterfactual discourse in context"

Boylan and Schultheis, "How strong is a counterfactual?"
9/24

Conditional Desires (and background on the Restrictor Theory)

von Fintel & Pasternak, "Attitudes, aboutness, and fake restricted readings"
10/1

Conditional Logic

Yalcin, "A counterexample to modus tollens"

Khoo & Mandelkern, "Triviality and the relationship between logical and natural languages"

Optional: McGee, "A counterexample to modus ponens"
10/8

X-Marking 1

Iatridou, "The grammatical ingredients of counterfactuality"

von Fintel & Iatridou, "How to say ought in Foreign"
10/15

X-Marking 2

Khoo, "On indicative and subjunctive conditionals" [alternatively Chs 6&7 of Khoo's 2020 book ms]

von Fintel & Iatridou, "Prolegomena to a theory of X-marking"
10/22

Similarity and Interventions

Lewis, "Counterfactual dependence and time's arrow"

Khoo, "Chapter 8: Sufficiency networks"
10/29

Probabilities 1

Lewis, "Probabilities of conditionals and conditional probabilities"

Bradley, "A preservation condition for conditionals"

Hájek, "Triviality pursuit"
11/5

Probabilities 2

von Fintel and Gillies, "Hedging your ifs and vice versa" (I'll focus on sections 3 onward)

Mandelkern and Khoo, "Against preservation"

Khoo: "Chapter 4 (4.1, 4.2 only)"

Optional: Lassiter, "What we can learn from trivalent conditionals about triviality"

Super duper optional: Khoo, "3.2" (this might help you with Chapter 4)
11/12 Syntax 1
11/19 Syntax 2
12/3

Conditional Speech Acts

Goldstein, "A theory of conditional assertion"

Krifka, "Indicative and subjunctive conditionals in commitment spaces"