COURSE INTRODUCTION AND APPLICATION INFORMATION

Course Name
Meaning, Language and Communication
Code
Semester
Theory
(hour/week)
Application/Lab
(hour/week)
Local Credits
ECTS
MCS 444
Fall/Spring
3
0
3
5
Prerequisites
None
Course Language
English
Course Type
Elective
Course Level
First Cycle
Mode of Delivery -
Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course
Course Coordinator
Course Lecturer(s)
Assistant(s) -
Course Objectives This course aims to provide a discussion of the major philosophical theories of language and communication that emerged in the twentieth century. It will cover both cognitive and normative aspects of the creation and understanding of meaning.
Learning Outcomes The students who succeeded in this course;
  • Explain different conceptions of meaning and language in terms of both classical and modern theories.
  • Evaluate the alternative cognitive and normative commitments made by different theories of communication.
  • Discuss pragmatic theories of communication.
  • Critically analyze different contemporary media and their content in terms of normative criteria pertaining to communication.
  • Define different kinds of speech acts.
Course Description This course will investigate communication as a social practice. It will carry out such an investigation along the two axes of language-use: the articulation of true (or false) claims and the formulation of arguments to produce various types of effect on people. Some of the questions that will frame our discussions will be: How is meaning created and shared? What are the criteria for meaningful linguistic expression? How do we distiguish sense from non-sense? How is language related to truth, on the one hand, and to norms, on the other? How do we distinguish (but also relate) the different kinds of things we do with language such as writing poetry, convincing others, knowing reality, and telling lies? What does it mean to investigate communication as a social practice?
Related Sustainable Development Goals

 



Course Category

 Core Courses
Major Area Courses
Supportive Courses
X
Media and Managment Skills Courses
Transferable Skill Courses

 

WEEKLY SUBJECTS AND RELATED PREPARATION STUDIES

Week Subjects Required Materials
1 Introduction
2 Logical positivism Carnap, Ayer, Wittgenstein
3 Cont’d from week 2 Carnap, The Logical Syntax of Language; Ayer, The Concept of a Person and Other Essays; Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, selections.
4 Meaning as "use" Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, selections.
5 Speech Acts and Pragmatics Austen, How To Do Things With Words.
6 Cont’d from week 5 Searle, Speech-Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language, selections.
7 Midterm
8 Linguistic Idealism Hacking, Why Does Language Matter to Philosophy?; Foucault, The Order of Discourse.
9 Language and Desire Lacan, The Agency of the Letter in the Unconcious, or Reason since Freud.
10 Cont’d from week 9
11 In-Class Writing Assignment
12 Communicative Rationality Habermas, Moral Consciousness and Communicative action, “Reconstruction and Interpretation in the Social Sciences”.
13 Cont’d from week 12
14 Review
15 Midterm II
16 Review of the Semester  
Course Notes/Textbooks
Suggested Readings/Materials

 

EVALUATION SYSTEM

Semester Activities Number Weigthing
Participation
1
10
Laboratory / Application
Field Work
Quizzes / Studio Critiques
Portfolio
Homework / Assignments
1
30
Presentation / Jury
Project
Seminar / Workshop
Oral Exam
Midterm
2
60
Final Exam
Total

Weighting of Semester Activities on the Final Grade
4
100
Weighting of End-of-Semester Activities on the Final Grade
Total

ECTS / WORKLOAD TABLE

Semester Activities Number Duration (Hours) Workload
Course Hours
(Including exam week: 16 x total hours)
16
4
64
Laboratory / Application Hours
(Including exam week: 16 x total hours)
16
Study Hours Out of Class
16
2
32
Field Work
Quizzes / Studio Critiques
Portfolio
Homework / Assignments
1
16
Presentation / Jury
Project
Seminar / Workshop
Oral Exam
Midterms
2
19
Final Exams
    Total
150

 

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES AND PROGRAM QUALIFICATIONS RELATIONSHIP

#
 Program Competencies/Outcomes
* Contribution Level
1
2
3
4
5
1

To be able to critically discuss and interpret the theories, concepts and ideas that form the basis of the discipline of new media and communication.

 X
2

To be able to critically interpret theoretical debates concerning the relations between the forms, agents, and factors that play a role in the field of new media and communication.

 X
3

To have the fundamental knowledge and ability to use the technical equipment and software programs required by the new media production processes.
4

To be able to gather, scrutinize and scientifically investigate data in the processes of production and distribution.  
5

To be able to use the acquired theoretical knowledge in practice.  

 X
6

To be able to take responsibility both individually and as a member of a group to develop solutions to problems encountered in the field of new media and communication.  
7

To be informed about national, regional, and global issues and problems; to be able to generate problem-solving methods depending on the quality of evidence and research, and to acquire the ability to report the conclusions of those methods to the public.

 X
8

To be able to critically discuss and draw on theories, concepts and ideas that form the basis of other disciplines complementing the field of new media and communication studies.  

 X
9

To be able to develop and use knowledge and skills towards personal and social goals in a lifelong process.

 X
10

To be able to apply social, scientific and professional ethical values in the field of new media and communication. 

 X
11

To be able to collect datain the areas of new media and communication and communicate with colleagues in a foreign language ("European Language Portfolio Global Scale", Level B1).  
12

To be able to speak a second foreign language at a medium level of fluency efficiently.
13

To be able to relate the knowledge accumulated throughout the human history to their field of expertise.

*1 Lowest, 2 Low, 3 Average, 4 High, 5 Highest