MA Political Science - Philosophy and Political Theory / Course details

In How to Do Things with Words, J. L. Austin argued that when we speak we do not merely communicate information, we also do things with our speech. When I promise, I do not just say a meaningful sentence, I also perform an action, i.e. making a promise. This action changes how the world is and I can be kept accountable for the promise. This course will give an overview of the classic speech act frameworks before delving into issues relevant to the social world. This course will investigate how speech can constitute harm through oppressive (e.g. racist or pornographic) speech acts; how to exploit speech acts for counterspeech or political purposes; how speech acts function in the modern world, specifically online. All these topics will highlight how language can make a tangible difference in the social world.

This course aims to provide an in-depth understanding how speech acts can perform actions over and above communicating information. Fitting with two departmental research areas (Mind & Language and Engaged Philosophy) this course offers students a programme of study that is genuinely research-led and connects with areas of staff members' ongoing research. The course unit aims first to introduce students to some classic figures of speech act framework (e.g. Austin) and second to demonstrate how the classic frameworks are applied to socially relevant phenomena by contemporary authors (e.g., Langton, McGowan, Saul).  

Syllabus (indicative curriculum content):
- Intentionalist vs Conventionalist speech act theories.
- Oppressive and Legal Speech Acts: Racist and Pornographic Speech
- Online Speech Acts: Comment, Repost, Like. 
- Political Speech Acts: Coded Words, Protests and Counterspeech.

- Intentionalist vs Conventionalist speech act theories.
- Oppressive and Legal Speech Acts: Racist and Pornographic Speech
- Online Speech Acts: Comment, Repost, Like. 
- Political Speech Acts: Coded Words, Protests and Counterspeech.

Seminars (10 x 2 hours)
Each seminar will be focused on a key text. The seminars will start by a short presentation by a student summarising the key argument from the paper. The student will be asked to point out the strengths and weaknesses in the paper. Following the presentation there will be a short Q&A from the class. The rest of the seminar will entail a group discussion of the week’s reading and topic, this discussion will be accompanied by a set of questions given to the students each week. The seminar is will be led by the course convenor, but the students will be encouraged to debate each other in a respectful manner.

Questions
A set of questions will accompany each week’s reading which will help students to read the text in a critical manner. Students will be asked to convey their answers in the seminars. These questions will be provided at least a week in advance.

Handout
Each week, the students will be provided with a handout online to facilitate the discussion and for future reference.
 

• Students will be able to critically evaluate competing (intentionalist and conventionalist) speech act theories.

• Students will be able to analyse the extent to which the mechanisms of classical speech act framework need amendments to accommodate issues surrounding racist speech, pornography, political speech or online speech.

Students will be able to develop their critical thinking skills by arguing in favour of a speech act account for a chosen social issue, considering possible objections and providing responses to them. 

Students will develop on their research skills by using library and online (e.g. PhilPapers, Google Scholar) resources to select classic/contemporary sources that facilitate their overall argument in the essay

Student will engage in time management skills to meet deadlines essays.

Feedback will be provided via Turnitin in 15 working days.

Green, M. (2021). Speech Acts. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2021/entries/speech-acts/>.

Kissine, M. (2013). From Utterances to Speech Acts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511842191

Maitra, I., & McGowan, M.K. (2012). Introduction and Overview. In I. Maitra & M.K. McGowan (Eds.), Speech and Harm (pp.1-23). Oxford University Press. Https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199236282.003.0001

(subject to change)