ABSTRACT
Linguistics, Anthropology and Philosophy in the French Enlightenment treats 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, Ulrich Ricken demonstrates that the central significance of language in the philosophy of the enlightenment, reflected and acted upon contemporary understandings of humanity as a whole. 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 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
part |60 pages
The Overture to the Enlightenment Debate: Language in the Interstices of the Intellectual and Physical Nature of Humanity
chapter |21 pages
Interpretations of Language As an Argument for and Against Dualism
chapter |9 pages
Language and the Affects in the Port-Royal Logic
chapter |6 pages
The Cartesian Argument
chapter |10 pages
Language and the Epistemological Evaluation of the Senses From Descartes to Locke and Du Bos
part |172 pages
Language, Anthropology and History in the Enlightenment