Linguistics, Anthropology and Philosophy in the French Enlightenment: A contribution to the history of the relationship between language theory and ideology

by Ricken,Ulrich

• ISBN13: 9780415076791
• ISBN10: 041507679X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1993-12-23
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Linguistics, Anthropology and Philosophy in the French Enlightenmenttreats the development of linguistic thought from Descartes to Degerando as both a part of and a determining factor in the emergence of modern consciousness. Through his careful analyses of works by the most influential thinkers of the time, author Ulrich Ricken demonstrates that the central significance of language in the philosophy of the enlightenment is how it reflected and acted upon contemporary understanding of humanity as a whole. Although primarily focused on French thought between 1650 and 1800, the author discusses contemporary developments in England, Germany and Italy and covers an unusually broad range of writers and ideas, including Leibniz, Wolff, Herder and Humboldt. This study places the history of language philosophy within the broader context of the history of ideas, aesthetics and historical anthropology and will be of interest to scholars working in these disciplines.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. vii
The Overture to the Enlightenment Debate: Language in the Interstices of the Intellectual and Physical Nature of Humanity	p. 1
Interpretations of Language as an Argument for and against Dualism: Descartes and His Sensualistic Opponents in the Seventeenth Century	p. 3
Language and the Affects in the Port-Royal Logic	p. 24
Cordemoy and Dualism: Consequences of a Cartesian Theory of Signs	p. 33
The Cartesian Argument: Rationalism and Empiricism in Bernard Lamy's Conception of Language	p. 38
Language and Sense Perception in the Controversy between Arnauld and Malebranche	p. 44
Language and the Epistemological Evaluation of the Senses from Descartes to Locke and Du Bos: The Outcome of the Seventeenth Century	p. 51
Language, Anthropology and History in the Enlightenment	p. 61
A Century of Controversy	p. 63
From Locke to Condillac: The Development of the Sensualistic Theory of Language	p. 70
Grammar, Philosophy, Anthropology: The Problem of Word Order	p. 111
The Origin of Language and the Historical View of Humanity	p. 134
Language and Evolutionary Thinking	p. 149
The ""Abuse of Words""	p. 160
Language and Knowledge: Theoretical Sources of the ""Linguistic Relativity"" of Cognition	p. 174
The French Enlightenment and Its Aftermath: Linguistic Theory and Language Debates from the Enlightenment to the Restoration	p. 191
Concluding Remarks: Assessment of the Discussion of Language in the French Enlightenment	p. 226
Notes	p. 233
Bibliography	p. 259
Index	p. 281
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.