Philosophical Languages in the Seventeenth Century: Dalgarno, Wilkins, LeibnizThis book gives a clear and thorough description of three fascinating linguistic projects that were carried out in the seventeenth century: the philosophical languages of George Dalgarno (1661) and John Wilkins (1668), as well as the work of Leibniz in this area. These projects combined practical purposes, such as improving communication, with profound theoretical insights concerning the representation of knowledge and the nature of language. Rich in detail, this book provides all the material for a proper understanding of the workings of these schemes, while illuminating the intellectual context in which they took shape. It will be welcomed by anyone interested in the history of linguistics and philosophy of language. This book: offers in-depth analysis of the two most sophisticated universal language schemes created in the seventeenth century: the philosophical languages of Dalgarno and Wilkins, supplementing existing literature in focusing on the internal details of the languages, highlights and documents the controversy between Dalgarno and Wilkins, largely ignored in most other books on the subject, showing that their schemes resulted from different, and in various respects antagonistic approaches, presents a careful account of Leibniz's plans for a philosophical language, and illustrates, in discussing his philosophy of language, how his thought was formed in constant interaction with contemporaries, discusses at greater length than usual the extensive work Leibniz did in carrying out his plans, and shows to what extent he was indebted to Dalgarno and Wilkins, emphasizes the importance of the logical tradition for the structure of artificial languages constructed in the seventeenthcentury, and clarifies the role played by dominant views of the relation between spoken and written language, maintains a fine balance between historical research and argument, presenting what was said as accurately as pos |
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Philosophical Languages in the Seventeenth Century: Dalgarno, Wilkins, Leibniz Jaap Maat Limited preview - 2012 |
Philosophical Languages in the Seventeenth Century: Dalgarno, Wilkins, Leibniz Jaap Maat No preview available - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
accident Adamic language adjective adverbs alphabet analysis animals arbitrary Aristotle artificial language beast broadsheet claims classification classificatory clearly combinatorics complete compound words concepts concerned consists contains context copula Couturat Dalgarno and Wilkins Dalgarno's language definition denoting derived Descartes designated difference discussed distinction enumerated Essay existing languages explains expressed fact further garno genera genus grammar grammatical particles guage ideas indicates inflexions instance John Wilkins kind large number Latin Latin alphabet Leibniz letter lexical lexicon of radical linguistic list of particles logical meaning method names natural noun periphrasis philosophical language possible predicamental series predicaments principle propositions radical words real character reason refer relation says semantic signifying Signorum signs similar species speech structure substance symbols tables theory things and notions thought tion transcendental particles truth universal character universal writing various verb Wilkins's scheme word classes