10 Years After

Speak My Language

I sent an email to a philosophy instructor here at my university that had taught a philosophy of language class a few semesters back. I emailed him:

I am an English student at ETSU with an emphasis in Linguistics. Can you tell me the schedule of rotation for the philosphy of language class which you instruct? Also, would it be possible to receive a copy of the syllabus used previously in the class?

His response was more than I had hoped for:

thanks for your queries. i'll be happy to give you a copy of the syllabus for my recent phil. language course. just drop by my office: 314 rogers-stout. as for the course rotation, at present phil. language is NOT on a regular rotation. my guess is that it will be offered at most every 3 or, more likely, 4 or more, years -- and that depends on ME being here. i know for certain it will not be offered next year (2004-2005). next fall (2004) i will probably be teaching philosophy of mind, which is just being put on the rotation, scheduled for every other year. in the spring i regularly teach either symbolic logic, contemporary philosophy, or the humanities senior seminar. that doesn't look likely to change anytime soon -- not before we hire a new department member who can teach logic and/or humanities. thus, the very earliest i could even realistically
imagine offering another course in phil. language would be the fall of 2005. and my crystal ball is far too cloudy for me to wager anything that far ahead. how long will you be here at ETSU? what year are you?

i hope this helps, and is not too disappointing.

all the best with your studies. feel free to drop by to talk.

warmly,
signed.

I only have, *fingers crossed*, one more semester here so I already realized I wouldn't be able to take this class. However, I did want to perhaps gather the information from the class so that I could do it as a self study - perhaps next summer. There's a grad student in my Dialectology class that took this class when it was offered. I think I'll ask him if I can borrow his class notes, if he still has them, to make copies of. Far from being disappointed, I'm excited. I think I'll stop by his office tomorrow between classes to pick up the syllabus and have a brief chat.