Part IB Paper 01 Knowledge, Language and World

2024-25
Syllabus
• The Nature of Knowledge
• Scepticism
• Primary and Secondary Qualities
• Logical Form
• Truth
• Modality: Semantics and Metaphysics

Course Outline
This course is compulsory for all students taking Part IB.

Assumed Knowledge
There are no procedural pre-requisites. However, every topic uses elementary notions from formal logic.
These notions are fully covered in Part IA Paper 5 (Formal Methods); students who have not taken this
paper should either attend the Part IA lectures on Formal Logic, or work through ‘forallx: Cambridge’
independently.

Objectives
Students taking this paper will be expected to:
1. Acquire a detailed knowledge of some of the concepts, positions and arguments in the central
literature on the topics of the course.
2. Acquire some sense of how the positions on different topics relate to each other.
3. Engage closely and critically with some of the ideas studied.
4. Develop their ability to think independently about the topics covered.

Reading List
An asterisk (*) indicates a classic item or one which provides a good route into a topic.

Preliminary Reading
Familiarity with elementary formal logic is assumed. This will be adequately covered by sitting Part IA Paper 5; but
those who are not taking Paper 5 will want to work through:

Forallx: Cambridge
Author: Magnus, P. D. and Tim Button; Type: Website; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Public note:
Found under the "OERs" section of the website;

The Nature of Knowledge

Analyses of knowledge
One central question is whether it is possible to give an account of knowledge in terms of necessary and sufficient
conditions.

* Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?

Analysis
Author: Gettier, Edmund L.; Type: Article; Pages: 121 - 123; Publication Date: 1963; Volume: 23; Issue: 6; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: Famous discussion of the definition of knowledge;

* Epistemology: Knowledge and Skepticism, Section 1 Knowledge

Author: Nozick, Robert; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Philosophical Explanations; Book Author: Nozick, Robert;
Chapter Number: 3 (section 1); Pages: 167 - 196; Publication Date: 1981; Publisher: Clarendon Press; Place of
publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading, Scan available;

1
* Knowledge and Its Limits
Author: Williamson, Timothy; Type: Book; Publication Date: 2000; Publisher: Oxford University Press; Place of
publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: Introduction and chapter 1;

* The Inescapability of Gettier Problems

The Philosophical Quarterly
Author: Zagzebski, Linda; Type: Article; Pages: 65 - 73; Publication Date: 1994; Volume: 44; Issue: 174; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

Epistemology
Author: Feldman, Richard; Type: Book; Publication Date: 2003; Publisher: Prentice Hall; Place of publication:
Upper Saddle River; Public note: Chapters 2 & 3, but see also for foundationalism and coherentism, pp. 49-60 and
60-70;

A Causal Theory of Knowing

The Journal of Philosophy
Author: Goldman, Alvin I.; Type: Article; Pages: 357 - 372; Publication Date: 1967; Volume: 64; Issue: 12; Tags:
Available online;

* Knowledge and the State of Nature: An Essay in Conceptual Synthesis

Author: Craig, Edward; Type: Book; Publication Date: 1990; Publisher: Clarendon Press; Place of publication:
Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: Others have suggested that rather than trying to
analyse the concept of knowledge, we should examine its function;

What Knowledge Is and What It Ought to Be: Feminist Values and Normative Epistemology
Philosophical Perspectives
Author: Haslanger, Sally; Type: Article; Pages: 459 - 480; Publication Date: 1999; Volume: 13; Tags: Available
online; Public note: Others have suggested that rather than trying to analyse the concept of knowledge, we should
examine its function;

* Knowledge and Its Place in Nature

Author: Kornblith, Hilary; Type: Book; Publication Date: 2002; Publisher: Clarendon Press; Place of publication:
Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: Yet others have suggested we study knowledge
as a “natural kind”. Chapters 1 and 2;

Knowledge as a Mental State

Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Nagel, Jennifer; Book Title: Oxford Studies in Epistemology. Volume 4;
Chapter Number: 10; Pages: 275 - 310; Editor: Gendler, T.S. and J. Hawthorne; Publication Date: 2013;
Publisher: Clarendon Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online; Public note: Yet others have
suggested we study knowledge as a “natural kind”;

Epistemology Naturalized
Author: Quine, Willard V.O.; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Ontological Relativity and Other Essays; Book
Author: Quine, Willard V.O.; Pages: 69 - 90; Publication Date: 1969; Publisher: Columbia University Press; Place
of publication: New York; Tags: Available online; Public note: Yet others have suggested we study knowledge as a
“natural kind”;

Externalism and internalism

A central disagreement in epistemology concerns the nature of epistemic justification. Does justification depend only
on an agent’s mental states or also on what is going on in the ‘external' environment? A second, related dispute
concerns whether we always have access to what justifies our beliefs.

* Externalist Theories of Empirical Knowledge

Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: BonJour, Laurence; Book Title: Knowledge: Readings in Contemporary
Epistemology; Chapter Number: 11; Editor: Bernecker, S. and F. Dretske; Publication Date: 2000; Publisher:
Oxford University Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;

* Internalism Defended
American Philosophical Quarterly
Author: Feldman, Richard and Earl Conee; Type: Article; Pages: 1 - 18; Publication Date: 2001; Volume: 38;
Issue: 1; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;

2
* Internalism Exposed
Journal of Philosophy
Author: Goldman, Alvin; Type: Article; Pages: 271 - 293; Publication Date: 1999; Volume: 96; Issue: 6; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

* What Is Justified Belief?

Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Goldman, Alvin; Book Title: Justification and Knowledge; Chapter Number:
1; Pages: 1 - 23; Editor: Pappas, G.; Publication Date: 1979; Publisher: D. Reidel; Place of publication:
Dordrecht; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading, Scan available;

Epistemic Justification: Internalism vs. Externalism, Foundations vs. Virtues

Author: BonJour, Laurence and Ernest Sosa; Type: Book; Publication Date: 2003; Publisher: Blackwell; Place of
publication: Oxford;

Warrant: The Current Debate

Author: Plantinga, Alvin; Type: Book; Publication Date: 1993; Publisher: Oxford University Press; Place of
publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online;

Intellectual Virtue in Perspective

Author: Sosa, Ernest; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Knowledge in Perspective Selected Essays in Epistemology;
Book Author: Sosa, Ernest; Chapter Number: 16; Pages: 270 - 295; Publication Date: 1991; Publisher:
Cambridge University Press; Place of publication: Cambridge; Tags: Available online;

The Raft and the Pyramid: Coherence versus Foundations in the Theory of Knowledge
Midwest Studies in Philosophy
Author: Sosa, Ernest; Type: Article; Pages: 3 - 26; Publication Date: 1980; Volume: 5; Issue: 1; Tags: Available
online;

Understanding Human Knowledge in General

Author: Stroud, Barry; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Understanding Human Knowledge: Philosophical Essays;
Book Author: Stroud, Barry; Chapter Number: 8; Publication Date: 2000; Publisher: Oxford University Press;
Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online;

Internalism Explained
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research
Author: Wedgwood, Ralph; Type: Article; Pages: 349 - 369; Publication Date: 2002; Volume: 65; Issue: 2; Tags:
Available online;

Evidence
Author: Williamson, Timothy; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Knowledge And Its Limits; Book Author: Williamson,
Timothy; Chapter Number: 9; Publication Date: 2000; Publisher: Oxford University Press; Place of publication:
Oxford; Tags: Available online;

Scepticism

The problem of scepticism

What is the best argument for scepticism?

* Meditations on First Philosophy With Selections from the Objections and Replies
Author: Descartes, René; Type: Book; Publication Date: 2013; Publisher: Cambridge University Press; Place of
publication: Cambridge; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: Or any other edition.
Meditations 1 & 2;

* A Treatise of Human Nature

Author: Hume, David; Additional Person Name: edited by Selby-Bigge, L. A and P. H. Nidditch; Type: Book;
Edition: Second edition; Publication Date: 1978; Publisher: Clarendon Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: Book 1, part 4, section 2. This or any other edition;

3
* The Problem of the External World
Author: Stroud, Barry; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: The Significance of Philosophical Scepticism; Book Author:
Stroud, Barry; Chapter Number: 1; Pages: 1 - 38; Publication Date: 1984; Publisher: Clarendon Press; Place of
publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;

* A Defence of Scepticism
The Philosophical Review
Author: Unger, Peter; Type: Article; Pages: 198 - 219; Publication Date: 1971; Volume: 80; Issue: 2; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

Skepticism
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Williams, Michael; Book Title: The Blackwell Guide to Epistemology; Pages:
35 - 69; Editor: Greco, John and Ernest Sosa; Publication Date: 1999; Publisher: Blackwell; Place of publication:
Oxford; Tags: Available online, Scan available;

Knowledge and Scepticism

Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Williamson, Timothy; Book Title: The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary
Philosophy; Chapter Number: 23; Editor: Jackson, Frank and Michael Smith; Publication Date: 2005; Publisher:
Oxford University Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online;

Responses to scepticism
There are many different strategies for responding to scepticism. For a general overview, see:

Introduction: Responding to Skepticism

Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: DeRose, Keith; Book Title: Skepticism: A Contemporary Reader; Chapter
Number: 1; Pages: 1 - 24; Editor: DeRose, Keith and T. A. Warfield; Publication Date: 1999; Publisher: Oxford
University Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading, Scan available;

Moorean responses
* Moorean Facts and Belief Revision or Can the Skeptic Win?
Philosophical Perspectives
Author: Kelly, Thomas; Type: Article; Pages: 179 - 209; Publication Date: 2005; Volume: 19; Tags: Available
online, Recommended reading;

* Extracts From "Proof of an External World", "Four Forms of Scepticism" and "Certainty"
Author: Sosa, Ernest; Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Moore, G. E.; Book Title: Epistemology: an Anthology;
Book Author: Sosa, Ernest; Chapter Number: 2, 3 and 4; Pages: 26 - 34; Edition: 2nd ed.; Publication Date:
2008; Publisher: Blackwell; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading, Scan
available;

What's Wrong with Moore's Argument?

Philosophical Issues
Author: Pryor, James; Type: Article; Pages: 349 - 378; Publication Date: 2004; Volume: 14; Tags: Available online;

Why Philosophy Can Overturn Common-Sense

Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Rinard, Susanna; Book Title: Oxford Studies in Epistemology. Volume 4;
Chapter Number: 7; Pages: 185 - 213; Editor: Gendler, T.S. and John Hawthorne; Publication Date: 2013;
Publisher: Oxford University Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online;

How to Defeat Opposition to Moore

Philosophical Perspectives
Author: Sosa, Ernest; Type: Article; Pages: 141 - 153; Publication Date: 1999; Volume: 13; Tags: Available online;

Dogmatist responses
* The Skeptic and the Dogmatist
Noûs
Author: Pryor, James; Type: Article; Pages: 517 - 549; Publication Date: 2000; Volume: 34; Issue: 4; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

4
Problems for Dogmatism
Philosophical Studies
Author: White, Roger; Type: Article; Pages: 525 - 557; Publication Date: 2006; Volume: 131; Issue: 3; Tags:
Available online;

Contextualist responses
* Contextualist Solutions to Epistemological Problems
The Australasian Journal of Philosophy
Author: Cohen, Stewart; Type: Article; Pages: 289 - 306; Publication Date: 1998; Volume: 76; Issue: 2; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

* Externalism and Modest Contextualism

Erkenntnis
Author: Dretske, Fred; Type: Article; Pages: 173 - 186; Publication Date: 2004; Volume: 61; Issue: 2/3; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

* Elusive Knowledge
Australasian Journal of Philosophy
Author: Lewis, David; Type: Article; Pages: 549 - 567; Publication Date: 1996; Volume: 74; Issue: 4; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

Sensitive Moderate Invariantism

Author: Hawthorne, John; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Knowledge and Lotteries; Book Author: Hawthorne,
John; Chapter Number: 4; Publication Date: 2004; Publisher: Clarendon Press; Place of publication: Oxford;
Tags: Available online;

The Assessment Sensitivity of Knowledge Attributions

Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: MacFarlane, John; Book Title: Oxford Studies in Epistemology. Volume 1;
Pages: 197 - 233; Editor: Gendler, Tamar S. and John Hawthorne; Publication Date: 2005; Publisher: Clarendon
Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online;

Denying closure
* Epistemic Operators
The Journal of Philosophy
Author: Dretske, Fred; Type: Article; Pages: 1007 - 1023; Publication Date: 1970; Volume: 67; Issue: 24; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

* Epistemology: Knowledge and Skepticism, Section 1 Knowledge & Section 2 Skepticism

Author: Nozick, Robert; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Philosophical Explanations; Book Author: Nozick, Robert;
Chapter Number: 3 (Sections 1 and 2); Pages: 167 - 196; Publication Date: 1981; Publisher: Clarendon Press;
Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading, Scan available; Public note: Link is to
scan of Chapter 3, section 1;

Inference to the best explanation

The Challenge of Refuting Skepticism
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Fumerton, Richard; Book Title: Contemporary Debates in Epistemology;
Pages: 85 - 97; Editor: Steup, Matthias and Ernest Sosa; Publication Date: 2005; Publisher: Blackwell; Place of
publication: Malden; Tags: Available online; Public note: E-book is the 2nd edition (2013);

The Refutation of Skepticism

Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Vogel, Jonathan; Book Title: Contemporary Debates in Epistemology; Pages:
72 - 84; Editor: Steup, Matthias and Ernest Sosa; Publication Date: 2005; Publisher: Blackwell; Place of
publication: Malden; Tags: Available online; Public note: E-book is the 2nd edition (2013);

5
Primary and Secondary Qualities

The history of the distinction

Locke distinguishes between primary qualities, like shape and size and secondary qualities, like colour and sound. His
argument for this distinction can be found in:

* Some Further Considerations Concerning Our Simple Ideas

Author: Locke, John; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Book 2; Book
Author: Locke, John; Editor: Rand, Benjamin; Publication Date: 1931; Publisher: Harvard University Press; Place
of publication: Cambridge; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;

* Two Kinds of Properties

Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Galileo; Book Title: Philosophy of Science: Readings; Pages: 27 - 32; Editor:
Danto, Arthur and Sidney Morgenbesser; Publication Date: 1960; Publisher: Meridian Books; Place of publication:
New York; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading, Scan available;

* Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge

Author: Berkeley, George; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: The Principles of Human Knowledge; Three Dialogues
Between Hylas and Philonous; Book Author: Berkeley, George; Editor: Warnock, G.J.; Publication Date: 1981;
Publisher: Collins; Place of publication: London; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: For
criticism by Berkeley. Sections 1 - 15;

* Upon the philosophy of Mr. Dugald Stewart and Dr. Reid, as it regards the union of colour with
extension; and the perception of the external primary qualities of matter
Author: Shepherd, Mary; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Mary Shepherd’s Essays on the Perception of an External
Universe; Book Author: Shepherd, Mary; Pages: 132 - 141; Publication Date: 2020; Publisher: Oxford University
Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;

* Locke and Pyrrhonism: The Doctrine of Primary and Secondary Qualities

Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Bolton, Martha Brandt; Book Title: The Skeptical Tradition; Pages: 353 - 375;
Editor: Burnyeat, Miles; Publication Date: 1983; Publisher: University of California Press; Place of publication:
Berkeley; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading, Scan available;

* Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous

Author: Berkeley, George; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: The Principles of Human Knowledge; Three Dialogues
Between Hylas and Philonous; Book Author: Berkeley, George; Editor: Warnock, G.J.; Publication Date: 1981;
Publisher: Collins; Place of publication: London; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: For
criticism by Berkeley. Dialogues 1 and 2;

Kant's 'Primary' Qualities

Author: Langton, Rae; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Kantian Humility Our Ignorance of Things in Themselves;
Book Author: Langton, Rae; Chapter Number: 8; Pages: 162 - 185; Publication Date: 1998; Publisher: Clarendon
Press; Oxford University Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online;

Primary & Secondary Qualities

Author: Mackie, J. L.; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Problems from Locke; Book Author: Mackie, J. L.;
Publication Date: 1976; Publisher: Clarendon Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online;

Of Primary and Secondary Qualities

The Philosophical Review
Author: Smith, A. D.; Type: Article; Pages: 221 - 254; Publication Date: 1990; Volume: 99; Issue: 2; Tags:
Available online;

History of Philosophy in Philosophy Today; and the Case of the Sensible Qualities
The Philosophical Review
Author: Wilson, Margaret D.; Type: Article; Pages: 191 - 243; Publication Date: 1992; Volume: 101; Issue: 1;
Tags: Available online;

6
Problems of colour
* Naming the Colours
Australasian Journal of Philosophy
Author: Lewis, David; Type: Article; Pages: 325 - 342; Publication Date: 1997; Volume: 75; Issue: 3; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

* Why Colour Primitivism?

Australasian Journal of Philosophy
Author: Benbaji, Hagit; Type: Article; Pages: 243 - 265; Publication Date: 2016; Publisher: Routledge; Place of
publication: Oxford; Volume: 94; Issue: 2; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;

* Perceptual Pragmatism and the Naturalized Ontology of Color

Topics in Cognitive Science
Author: Chirimuuta, Mazviita; Type: Article; Pages: 151 - 171; Publication Date: 2017; Volume: 9; Issue: 1; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

* The Mind-Independence of Colour

European Journal of Philosophy
Author: Allen, Keith; Type: Article; Pages: 137 - 158; Publication Date: 2007; Volume: 15; Issue: 2; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

* The Disunity of Color

The Philosophical Review
Author: Matthen, Mohan; Type: Article; Pages: 47 - 84; Publication Date: 1999; Volume: 108; Issue: 1; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

* How to Speak of the Colors

Philosophical Studies
Author: Johnston, Mark; Type: Article; Pages: 221 - 263; Publication Date: 1992; Volume: 68; Issue: 3; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

The Quest for Reality: Subjectivism and the Metaphysics of Colour

Author: Stroud, Barry; Type: Book; Publication Date: 2000; Publisher: Oxford University Press; Place of
publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online; Public note: Chapters 4 and 6;

Subjectivism and "Unmasking"

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research
Author: Johnston, Mark; Type: Article; Pages: 187 - 201; Publication Date: 2004; Volume: 69; Issue: 1; Tags:
Available online;

Unmasking and Dispositionalism: Reply to Mark Johnston

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research
Author: Stroud, Barry; Type: Article; Pages: 202 - 212; Publication Date: 2004; Volume: 69; Issue: 1; Tags:
Available online;

Metaphysics of Color 1: Physicalist Theories of Color

Philosophy Compass
Author: Logue, Heather; Type: Article; Pages: 211 - 219; Publication Date: 2016; Volume: 11; Issue: 4; Tags:
Available online;

Metaphysics of Color 2: Non-Physicalist Theories of Color

Philosophy Compass
Author: Logue, Heather; Type: Article; Pages: 220 - 231; Publication Date: 2016; Volume: 11; Issue: 4; Tags:
Available online;

Color: A Functionalist Proposal

Philosophical Studies
Author: Cohen, Jonathan; Type: Article; Pages: 1 - 42; Publication Date: 2003; Volume: 113; Issue: 1; Tags:
Available online;

7
Problems of value
* Values and Secondary Qualities
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: McDowell, John; Book Title: Morality and Objectivity: A Tribute to J.L. Mackie;
Pages: 110 - 129; Editor: Honderich, Ted; Publication Date: 2011; Publisher: Routledge; Place of publication:
London; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;

* Emotion and Values

Author: Tappolet, Christine; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Emotions, Values, and Agency; Book Author:
Tappolet, Christine; Chapter Number: 3; Pages: 79 - 122; Publication Date: 2016; Publisher: Oxford University
Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;

* Projections and Relations

The Monist
Author: Sainsbury, R. M.; Type: Article; Pages: 133 - 160; Publication Date: 1998; Volume: 81; Issue: 1; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

* Dispositional Theories of Value

Proceedings of The Aristotelian Society: Supplementary Volume
Author: Smith, Michael, David Lewis and Mark Johnston; Type: Article; Pages: 89 - 174; Publication Date: 1989;
Volume: 63; Issue: 1; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;

* Moral Truth: Observational or Theoretical?

Proceedings of The Aristotelian Society
Author: Wilson, Catherine; Type: Article; Pages: 97 - 114; Publication Date: 2011; Volume: 111; Issue: 1.1; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

* Doubts About Projectivism

Philosophy
Author: Price, A. W.; Type: Article; Pages: 215 - 228; Publication Date: 1986; Volume: 61; Issue: 236; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

* Are Emotions Perceptions of Value?

Canadian Journal of Philosophy
Author: Dokic, Jérôme and Stéphane Lemaire; Type: Article; Pages: 227 - 247; Publication Date: 2013; Volume:
43; Issue: 2; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;

Moral Value, Response-Dependence, and Rigid Designation

Canadian Journal of Philosophy
Author: Thompson, Brad; Type: Article; Pages: 71 - 94; Publication Date: 2006; Volume: 36; Issue: 1; Tags:
Available online;

Moral Values, Projection and Secondary Qualities

Proceedings of The Aristotelian Society: Supplementary Volume
Author: Wright, Crispin; Type: Article; Pages: 1 - 26; Publication Date: 1988; Volume: 62; Issue: 1; Tags:
Available online;

De-moralizing Disgustingness
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research
Author: Knapp, Christopher; Type: Article; Pages: 253 - 278; Publication Date: 2003; Volume: 66; Issue: 2; Tags:
Available online;

Logical Form
A helpful guide to the whole area is:

The Matter of Form: Logic's Beginnings

Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Oliver, Alex; Book Title: The Force of Argument: Essays in Honor of Timothy
Smiley; Pages: 165 - 185; Editor: Lear, Jonathan and Alex Oliver; Publication Date: 2010; Publisher: Routledge;
Place of publication: Abingdon; Tags: Available online;

8
The purposes of formalisation
For classic statements of the purpose of formalisation, see:

Chapter 5 (esp. section 33)

Author: Quine, Willard V.O.; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Word and Object; Book Author: Quine, Willard V.O.;
Edition: New edition; Publication Date: 2013; Publisher: MIT Press; Place of publication: Cambridge; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

Logical Forms: An Introduction to Philosophical Logic

Author: Sainsbury, Mark; Type: Book; Edition: 2nd ed.; Publication Date: 2001; Publisher: Blackwell; Place of
publication: Oxford; Tags: Recommended reading; Public note: Chapter 1, sections 10 - 12; chapter 6, sections 1 -
3;

Quine's Syntactical Insights

Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Geach, Peter; Book Title: Words and Objections: Essays on the Work of W.
V. Quine; Pages: 146 - 157; Editor: Davidson, Donald and Jaakko Hintikka; Publication Date: 1969; Publisher:
Reidel; Place of publication: Dordrecht; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: E-article is
from the alternative source (Synthese, 1968, Vol.19(1), pp.118-129);

Logic as a Source of Syntactical Insights

Author: Quine, W. V.; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: The Ways of Paradox: And Other Essays; Book Author:
Quine, W. V.; Chapter Number: 6; Edition: Revised and enlarged edition; Publication Date: 1976; Publisher:
Harvard University Press; Place of publication: Cambridge; Tags: Recommended reading; Public note: This and
the following readings offer a discussion of the kinds of inference we should be trying to capture with formal logic, and
why.;

What Is Logic?
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Prior, Arthur N.; Book Title: Papers in Logic and Ethics; Pages: 122 - 129;
Editor: Geach, P.T. and A.J.P. Kenny; Publication Date: 1976; Publisher: Duckworth; Place of publication:
London; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading, Scan available;

Formal and Material Consequence

Journal of Philosophical Logic
Author: Read, Stephen; Type: Article; Pages: 247 - 265; Publication Date: 1994; Volume: 23; Issue: 3; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

A Tale of Two Tortoises

Mind
Author: Smiley, Timothy; Type: Article; Pages: 725 - 736; Publication Date: 1995; Volume: 104; Issue: 416; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

Logical form and grammatical form

Start with an excellent introduction:

The Project of Formalization

Author: Sainsbury, R. Mark; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Logical Forms: An Introduction to Philosophical Logic;
Book Author: Sainsbury, R. Mark; Chapter Number: 6; Edition: 2nd ed.; Publication Date: 2001; Publisher:
Blackwell; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Recommended reading;

The Doctrine of Logic as Form

Linguistics and Philosophy
Author: Etchemendy, John; Type: Article; Pages: 319 - 334; Publication Date: 1983; Volume: 6; Issue: 3; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

Semantic Structure and Logical Form

Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Evans, Gareth; Book Title: Truth and Meaning: Essays in Semantics; Pages:
199 - 222; Editor: Evans, Gareth and John McDowell; Publication Date: 1976; Publisher: Clarendon Press; Place
of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; and in P. Ludlow, ed., Readings in the
Philosophy of Language (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1997);

9
A Few More Remarks on Logical Form
Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society
Author: Oliver, Alex; Type: Article; Pages: 247 - 272; Publication Date: 1999; Volume: 99; Tags: Available online,
Recommended reading;

Davidson on logical form

The Logical Form of Action Sentences
Author: Davidson, Donald; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Essays on Actions and Events; Book Author:
Davidson, Donald; Publication Date: 1980; Publisher: Clarendon Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: Read also the reply to Cargile, pp. 137-146;

Chapter 4 (Section 6)
Author: Sainsbury, R. Mark; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Logical Forms: An Introduction to Philosophical Logic;
Book Author: Sainsbury, R. Mark; Edition: 2nd ed.; Publication Date: 2001; Publisher: Blackwell; Place of
publication: Oxford;

Davidson's Notion of Logical Form

Inquiry
Author: Cargile, James; Type: Article; Pages: 129 - 139; Publication Date: 1970; Volume: 13; Tags: Available
online;

Semantics for Natural Language

Author: Davidson, Donald; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation; Book Author:
Davidson, Donald; Chapter Number: 4; Publication Date: 1984; Publisher: Clarendon Press; Place of publication:
Oxford; Tags: Available online;

Some Remarks About Logical Form

Noûs
Author: Grandy, Richard; Type: Article; Pages: 157 - 164; Publication Date: 1974; Volume: 8; Issue: 2; Tags:
Available online;

"Most" and "All": Some Comments on a Familiar Programme, and on the Logical Form of Quantified
Sentences
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Wiggins, David; Book Title: Reference, Truth and Reality: Essays on the
Philosophy of Language; Pages: 318 - 346; Editor: Platts, Mark; Publication Date: 1980; Publisher: Routledge and
Kegan Paul; Place of publication: London; Tags: Available online;

Truth
Below are two very helpful introductions, to be read before you embark on anything else. Across this topic, you will
find frequent references to the work of Tarski. A detailed knowledge of Tarski’s technicalities is probably not
necessary, since the technical semantic concepts can be set up in alternative ways. Indeed, when you learned how to
construct interpretations for first-order logic, you essentially learned (something like) Tarski’s theory of truth. Nor will
we be focussed on one of the main issues motivating Tarski, an attempt to avoid the problems created by the paradox
of the liar. However, some familiarity with the basic idea is absolutely essential.

Introduction
Author: Blackburn, Simon and Keith Simmons; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Truth; Book Author: Blackburn,
Simon and Keith Simmons; Pages: 1 - 28; Edition: Second edition; Publication Date: 1999; Publisher: Oxford
University Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Recommended reading, Scan available;

Theories of Truth
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Walker, Ralph; Book Title: A Companion to the Philosophy of Language.
Volume 2; Pages: 309 - 330; Editor: Hale, Bob and Crispin Wright; Publication Date: 1997; Publisher: Blackwell;
Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading, Scan available;

The Semantic Conception of Truth and the Foundations of Semantics

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research
Author: Tarski, Alfred; Type: Article; Pages: 341 - 376; Publication Date: 1944; Volume: 4; Issue: 3; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

10
Truth and Truthfulness: An Essay in Genealogy
Author: Williams, Bernard; Type: Book; Publication Date: 2004; Publisher: Princeton University Press; Place of
publication: Princeton; Tags: Available online;

Correspondence theories
The Correspondence Theory
Author: Kirkham, Richard L.; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Theories of Truth: A Critical Introduction; Book
Author: Kirkham, Richard L.; Chapter Number: 4; Publication Date: 1995; Publisher: MIT Press; Place of
publication: Cambridge; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;

True to the Facts

The Journal of Philosophy
Author: Davidson, Donald; Type: Article; Pages: 748 - 764; Publication Date: 1969; Volume: 66; Issue: 21; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

Tarski's Theory of Truth

The Journal of Philosophy
Author: Field, Hartry; Type: Article; Pages: 347 - 375; Publication Date: 1972; Volume: 69; Issue: 13; Tags:
Available online;

Deflationary theories
Deflationism (About Theories of Truth)
Philosophy Compass
Author: Armour-Garb, Bradley; Type: Article; Pages: 267 - 277; Publication Date: 2012; Volume: 7; Issue: 4;
Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;

Deflationism
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Bar-On, Dorit and Keith Simmons; Book Title: The Oxford Handbook of
Philosophy of Language; Editor: Lepore, Ernest and Barry C. Smith; Publication Date: 2008; Publisher: Oxford
University Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;

Truth
Author: Horwich, Paul; Type: Book; Edition: 2nd ed.; Publication Date: 1998; Publisher: Clarendon Press; Place
of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;

[Review of] Truth, by Paul Horwich

Philosophy of Science
Author: Field, Hartry; Type: Article; Pages: 321 - 330; Publication Date: 1992; Volume: 59; Issue: 2; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

The Folly of Trying to Define Truth

The Journal of Philosophy
Author: Davidson, Donald; Type: Article; Pages: 263 - 278; Publication Date: 1996; Volume: 93; Issue: 6; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading;

A Critique of Deflationism
Philosophical Topics
Author: Gupta, Anil; Type: Article; Pages: 57 - 81; Publication Date: 1993; Volume: 21; Tags: Available online;
Public note: Advanced;

The Use of Force Against Deflationism: Assertion and Truth

Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Bar-On, Dorit and Keith Simmons; Book Title: Truth and Speech Acts:
Studies in the Philosophy of Language; Pages: 61 - 89; Editor: Greimann, D. and G. Siegwart; Publication Date:
2012; Publisher: Routledge; Place of publication: London; Tags: Available online; Public note: Advanced;

11
Coherence theories
Coherence theories embody one of version of approaches that want to deny an independent metaphysical weight to
truth, and to embed it in our epistemic practices instead. A good introduction to the general approach is:

Nonrealist Theories
Author: Kirkham, Richard L.; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Theories of Truth: A Critical Introduction; Book
Author: Kirkham, Richard L.; Chapter Number: 3; Publication Date: 1995; Publisher: MIT Press; Place of
publication: Cambridge; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;

Truth as Convenient Friction

The Journal of Philosophy
Author: Price, Huw; Type: Article; Pages: 167 - 190; Publication Date: 2003; Volume: 100; Issue: 4; Tags:
Available online;

Modality

Introductory textbooks
Critical Introduction to the Metaphysics of Modality
Author: Borghini, Andrea; Type: Book; Publication Date: 2016; Publisher: Bloomsbury; Place of publication:
London; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;

Modality
Author: Melia, Joseph; Type: Book; Publication Date: 2003; Publisher: Acumen; Place of publication: Chesham;
Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: Chapters 4 -7;

Modal Logic and Semantics

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Author: Kuhn, S; Type: Website; Publication Date: 1998; Publisher: Taylor and Francis; Tags: Available online;
Public note: Philosophically minded introduction to modal logic;

Modality
Author: Melia, Joseph; Type: Book; Publication Date: 2003; Publisher: Acumen; Place of publication: London;
Tags: Available online; Public note: Chapters 1 & 2. Philosophically minded introduction to modal logic;

Necessity
Author: Sainsbury, Mark; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Logical Forms: An Introduction to Philosophical Logic;
Book Author: Sainsbury, Mark; Chapter Number: 5; Edition: 2nd ed.; Publication Date: 2001; Publisher:
Blackwell; Place of publication: Oxford; Public note: Philosophically minded introduction to modal logic;

An Introduction to Non-Classical Logic: From If to Is

Author: Priest, Graham; Type: Book; Edition: 2nd edition; Publication Date: 2008; Publisher: Cambridge
University Press; Place of publication: Cambridge; Tags: Available online; Public note: For semantics and modal
logic. Chapters 2 and 3;

Semantics for Modal Logic

Author: Magnus, P. D. and Tim Button; Additional Person Name: Additions by Loftis, J. Robert and Robert
Trueman, remixed and revised by Aaron Thomas-Bolduc and Richard Zach; Type: Book Chapter; Book Title: Forallx:
Calgary Remix: An Introduction to Formal Logic; Book Author: Magnus, P. D. and Tim Button; Chapter Number: 40;
Tags: Available online; Public note: For semantics and modal logic;

New Introduction to Modal Logic

Author: Hughes, George E. and Maxwell J. Cresswell; Type: Book; Publication Date: 1995; Publisher: Routledge;
Place of publication: London; Tags: Available online; Public note: (Parts 1 and 2). Further textbook on modal logic
which deals in detail with axiomatic treatments of modal logic;

12
Possible worlds
Central debates concern the nature of possible world, the analysis of our modal concepts and whether we can give a
fully reductive account of modal language.

* Theories of Actuality
Noûs
Author: Adams, Robert Merrihew; Type: Article; Pages: 211 - 231; Publication Date: 1974; Volume: 8; Issue: 3;
Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: Alternative online source of paper reprinted in Loux (see
above);

* Naming and Necessity

Author: Kripke, Saul A.; Type: Book; Edition: Revised and enlarged ed.; Publication Date: 1980; Publisher:
Blackwell; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Recommended reading; Public note: Look in the index for the
references to 'possible worlds';

* On the Plurality of Worlds

Author: Lewis, David K.; Type: Book; Publication Date: 2001; Publisher: Blackwell; Place of publication: Oxford;
Tags: Recommended reading; Public note: Chapter 1, sect. 1-2; chapter 2; chapter 3, sects. 1-2; chapter 4, sects. 1-
2;

* The Possible and the Actual: Readings in the Metaphysics of Modality

Author: Loux, Michael J.; Type: Book; Publication Date: 1988; Publisher: Cornell University Press; Place of
publication: Ithaca; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: Loux's introduction and the papers
by Adams, Lewis, Plantinga and Stalnaker. See below for alternative online sources of these papers;

* Possible Worlds
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Lewis, David; Book Title: The Possible and the Actual: Readings in the
Metaphysics of Modality; Chapter Number: 9; Pages: 182 - 189; Editor: Loux, Michael J.; Publication Date: 1988;
Publisher: Cornell University Press; Place of publication: Ithaca; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading,
Scan available; Public note: Scan of Lewis paper published in Loux (see above);

* Actualism and Possible Worlds

Author: Plantinga, Alvin; Type: Article; Pages: 139 - 160; Publication Date: 1976; Volume: 42; Issue: 1-3; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: Alternative source of paper published in Loux (see above);

* Possible Worlds
Noûs
Author: Stalnaker, Robert C.; Type: Article; Pages: 65 - 75; Publication Date: 1976; Volume: 10; Issue: 1; Tags:
Available online, Recommended reading; Public note: Alternative online source of paper published in Loux (see
above);

A Combinatorial Theory of Possibility

Author: Armstrong, D. M.; Type: Book; Publication Date: 1989; Publisher: Cambridge University Press; Place of
publication: Cambridge; Tags: Available online;

Two Axes of Actualism

The Philosophical Review
Author: Bennett, Karen; Type: Article; Pages: 297 - 326; Publication Date: 2005; Volume: 114; Issue: 3; Tags:
Available online;

Counterfactual Conditionals
Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Edgington, Dorothy; Book Title: The Routledge Handbook of Modality;
Chapter Number: 3; Pages: 30 - 39; Editor: Otávio Bueno and Scott A. Shalkowski; Publication Date: 2023;
Publisher: Routledge; Place of publication: London; Tags: Available online;

Two Concepts of Possible Worlds

Midwest Studies in Philosophy
Author: Inwagen, Peter Van; Type: Article; Pages: 185 - 213; Publication Date: 1986; Volume: 11; Issue: 1; Tags:
Available online;

13
Modal Fictionalism
Mind
Author: Rosen, Gideon; Type: Article; Pages: 327 - 354; Publication Date: 1990; Volume: 99; Issue: 395; Tags:
Available online;

Essentialism
* Essence and Modality
Philosophical Perspectives
Author: Fine, Kit; Type: Article; Pages: 1 - 16; Pages: 1-; Publication Date: 1994; Publisher: Ridgeview; Place of
publication: Atascadero, Calif; Volume: 8; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;

* Essentialism and Modality

Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Mackie, Penelope; Book Title: The Routledge Handbook of Modality;
Chapter Number: 6; Pages: 61 - 69; Editor: Otávio Bueno and Scott A. Shalkowski; Publication Date: 2023;
Publisher: Routledge; Place of publication: London; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;

* Essential Properties and Individual Essences

Philosophy Compass
Author: Roca-Royes, Sonia; Type: Article; Pages: 65 - 77; Pages: 65-77; Publication Date: 2011; Volume: 6;
Issue: 1; Tags: Available online, Recommended reading;

Sortal Concepts and Essential Properties

The Philosophical Quarterly
Author: Mackie, Penelope; Type: Article; Pages: 311 - 333; Publication Date: 1994; Volume: 44; Issue: 176; Tags:
Available online;

Essence, Potentiality, and Modality

Mind
Author: Vetter, Barbara; Type: Article; Pages: 833 - 861; Publication Date: 2021; Volume: 130; Issue: 519; Tags:
Available online;

Recent Work: Modality Without Possible Worlds

Analysis
Author: Vetter, Barbara; Type: Article; Pages: 742 - 754; Publication Date: 2011; Volume: 71; Issue: 4; Tags:
Available online;

Essence and Dependence

Type: Book Chapter; Chapter Author: Wilson, Jessica; Book Title: Metaphysics, Meaning, and Modality: Themes
From Kit Fine; Pages: 283 - 300; Editor: Mircea Dumitru; Publication Date: 2020; Publisher: Oxford University
Press; Place of publication: Oxford; Tags: Available online;

Suggestions Welcome
We welcome your suggestions for further readings that will improve and diversify our reading lists, to reflect the best
recent research, and important work by members of under-represented groups. Please email your suggestions to
philosophy@[Link] including the relevant part and paper number. For information on how we handle your
personal data when you submit a suggestion please see: [Link]
protection/general-data.

14