Course Info: CS-0214
| Course | CS-0214 Semantics |
| Long Title | Semantics |
| Term | 2017S |
| Note(s) |
Satisfies Distribution Textbook information |
| Meeting Info | Franklin Patterson Hall 108 on M,W from 10:30-11:50 |
| Faculty | Daniel Altshuler |
| Capacity | 30 |
| Available | 2 |
| Waitlist | 0 |
| Distribution(s) |
Mind, Brain, and Information |
| Cumulative Skill(s) | Writing and Research Quantitative Skills Independent Work |
| Additional Info | In this course, students are expected to spend at least six to eight hours a week of preparation and work outside of class time. This time includes practicing the techniques developed in class. |
| Description | This course provided an introduction to a scientific approach to meaning. Just like any scientist, a semanticist doesn’t pursue the object of inquiry (i.e., meaning) directly, but rather focuses on related phenomena. We focused on composition: the idea that the meaning of a whole (e.g., “spotted butterfly”) is a composite of the meanings of its parts (e.g., the meaning of “spotted” and the meaning of “butterfly”). We also focused on truth: the idea that we understand the meaning of a sentence by understanding what the world would have to be like for the sentence in question to be true (e.g., you understand the meaning of “It is raining in Seattle,” because you know what the world would have to be like for that sentence to be true). These two phenomena allowed us to analyze the meanings of nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, quantifiers, tenses and the sentences that contain these expressions. |