Naturalism, Reductionism and Normativity
The course will deal with the possibility of and the need for developing a version of naturalism that is neither scientistic nor reductionist. The readings and lectures/discussions will take up the following topics:
(1) Naturalism. [Questions: What has “Naturalism” has come to mean in present day analytic philosophy? Are all meaningful questions scientific questions? (We will look briefly at some writing by Austin and Wittgenstein connection with this one.) Are all scientific questions of the same kind? (The different answers of Positivism, Realism, and Pragmatism will be examined.)
(2) Reductionism. [Subtopics: meanings of “reduction”. The concept of “supervenience”. Reductionism in the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of language, and the alternatives to it.]
(3) Normativity. Is normative language “cognitively meaningful”? Is a “yes” answer compatible with Naturalism?