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PHI 4313:Philosophy of Language:

Humboldt & the Continental European Heritage :

http://images.google.com.hk/imgres?imgurl=www.funglode.org/instcolaboradoras/imagenes/LogoFOG.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.funglode.org/menu/instituciones/internacionales/default.htm&h=311&w=379&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dortega%2By%2Bgasset%26start%3D40%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Dzh-TW%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DN

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Main figures discussed

Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767-1835)

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913)

Edmund Husserl (1859-1938)

Roman Jakobson (1896-1982)

Noam Chomsky (1928- )

http://www.google.com.hk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.phillwebb.net/History/Twentieth/Continental/Phenomenology/Husserl/Husserl6.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.phillwebb.net/History/Twentieth/Continental/Phenomenology/Husserl/Husserl.htm&usg=__FzABG_j4W2AvSsjCSCI6W_jj1ZI=&h=321&w=318&sz=72&hl=zh-TW&start=13&zoom=1&tbnid=uQWSjs8ORCShoM:&tbnh=118&tbnw=117&ei=b5FnTru2LImriAeytrXoCw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhusserl%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dzh-TW%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1I7RNRN_en%26tbm%3Disch&um=1&itbs=1http://images.google.com.hk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.lse.ac.uk/Depts/human-rights/images/Noam_Chomsky.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.lse.ac.uk/Depts/human-rights/Chomsky.htm&h=1440&w=2160&sz=194&tbnid=Ip8ZeJzS8PEJ:&tbnh=100&tbnw=150&start=3&prev=/images%3Fq%3DNoam%2BChomsky%26hl%3Dzh-TW%26lr%3D%26sa%3DNhttp://images.google.com.hk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.phenomenologycenter.org/images/jakobson.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.phenomenologycenter.org/images/&h=446&w=310&sz=68&tbnid=dmb_-r-6SXwJ:&tbnh=123&tbnw=86&start=5&prev=/images%3Fq%3Droman%2Bjakobson%26hl%3Dzh-TW%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN

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What can Philosophy learn from Linguistics?

Biology, then and now

Mathematics

Physics

Linguistics the new science (general linguistics)

As a means of deception!

As a Tool of expression (Instrumentalism) ?

As a Social Institution, i.e., a means of communication

As Intellectual competence

As World-views, as Mans means of discerning the world

House of Being(Haus des Seins)?

Language as a system

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Levi-Straussonlanguage system

"Language does not enter into a world of accomplished

objective perceptions merely to give purely external and

arbitrary signs or 'names' to individual given objects which

are clearly delimited from one another; but it is itself a

mediator in the formation of object. It is in one sense the

supreme denominator" (Levi-Strauss, "Le Langage et la

Construction du Monde des Objets" inPsychologie du

Langage)

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Prager conception of

phonological system"We call phonological system of a language []

the repertory of oppositions which in a given

language can be associated with a differentiation

of meaning (repertory of phonological

oppositions). Terms of phonological oppositions

that are not susceptible to being dissociated into

smaller sub-oppositions are called phonemes"

(Troubetzkoy/Jakobson)

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Kants concept of systemKants distinction between system and aggregate

Plato and Aristotle on Parts and Wholes

Plato: whole > sum of parts by what he called structure

(sumplok). Aristotle: organism > sum of organs

whole (lon) =/= total (pn) surplus: telos

Part-Whole logic in Husserl

Two different kind of parts

Parts as moments (Momente) =/= parts as pieces (Stcke)

System Aggregate

Grow from withinper intussusceptionem

Assembled from withoutper appositionem

Eg. Eg.

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1. =/=(la langue =/= la parole)

2. => phonology, syntax, lexicon

3.

4. (uniqueness)()

5. (competence, faculty)

75%(aphasia)

6. (acquisition)

7. (social institution)

8.

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Weisgerber & Ricoeur on Language and society

Leo Weisgerber (1989-1984): Menschheitsgesetze der Sprache (Humanisticlaws of language)

Gesetz der Muttersprache (Law of mother tongue), thrownness

Gesetz der Sprachgemeinschaft (Law of linguistic community)

Gesetz der sprachbedingten Daseins (Law of the linguistic conditioning ofhuman existence)

Ricoeur: If language is a system without a 'subject', we can no longer take for

granted the primacy of the subject which Western philosophy has assertedsince Descartes, Kant and Fichte, and into which Husserlian phenomenologyhas breathed new life in the name of the intentional consciousness, ofreduction and constitution. Far from constituting the sense, the subject himselfis instituted by language. Like society, man is the product of language ratherthan its inventor.

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Linguistic Turn: (E. Britannica.)

"Its main characteristics have been the avoidance of systembuilding and a commitment to detailed, piecemeal analyses ofspecific issues. Within this tradition there have been two mainapproaches: a formal style, deriving from logic; and an approach

emphasizing ordinary language.""Perhaps the most distinctive feature of analytic philosophy is itsemphasis upon the role that language plays in the creation andresolution of philosophical problems. These problems, it is said,arise through the misuses, oversimplifications, and unwarrantedgeneralizations of everyday language. Wittgenstein said in thisconnection: 'Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of theintelligence by means of language.' The idea that philosophicalproblems are in some important sense linguistic (or conceptual) iscalled the 'linguistic turn'."

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A broader understanding of Linguistic Turn

The notion of Philosophy of Language

Different models of linguistic turn

OLP stance (therapeutic model) Post-Structural stance (deconstructive model)

Habermasian stance (transcendental-

pragmatic model) Humboldtian stance (formative model)

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Linguistic Turn:

Oxford Companion to Philosophy, entry on Linguistic turn: Theproject thus described was pursued most zealously by J. L. Austin andthe proponents of so-called ordinary languagephilosophy. Ourcommon stock of words,Austin wrote,embodies all the distinctionsmen have found worth drawing ... in the lifetimes of many generations:

these are surely likely to be more numerous, more sound, since theyhave stood up to the long test of the survival of the fittest, and moresubtle ... than any that you or I are likely to think up in our arm-chairs ofan afternoon - the most favoured alternative method'.But the troublewith this approach, as many have felt, is its tendency to consecrate thenuances of received ('common-sense') wisdom while failing to address

more substantive philosophical issues. Thus it can easily give rise to anoutlook of laissez-faire relativism or an inert consensus-basedrecommendation that philosophy should cease asking awkwardquestions and be content - in Wittgenstein's phrase - to 'leave everythingas it is'.(Christopher Norris)

Goethe: Ich

denke immer,wenn ich einen

Druckfehler sehe,

es sei etwas neues

erfunden!

(Maximen und

Reflektionen)

http://www.poetryconnection.net/images/Johann-Wolfgang-von-Goethe.jpg

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Philosophical Issues related to Language

Consciousness

Knowledge and perception

Meaning Constitution (Bildungskonzeption)

Mental developmentHuman relationship (communication)

National character

Social institution

Tradition formation

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Language & Brain

http://www.outtacontext.com/title-artist-a.gif

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Homunculi according to Penfield

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Motoric Homunculusin details

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The Human Brain:

discovery of speech areas

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Roman Jakobson (1896-1982)

(extralinguistic reality)

Roman Jakobson,Brain and language : Cerebral Hemispheres and Linguistic Structure in

Mutual Light.. (Columbus,Ohio : Slavica Publishers, 1980.)

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Appendices

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Aristotles implication:

Things and mental impressions are universal

Sounds and writings are relative to peoples

Conventionalist view Instrumentalist view

Related Philosophical issues:

Relation between mind and reality (adaequatio truth?!)

Any prelinguistic clarity of mind / thought?!

The role of language (sound)

The role of writing (script)

Aristotle: On interpretation

)

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Language and world-view (Weltanschauung)

Kant Weltanschauung : Weltbild, Weltansicht ()

Humboldt there resides in every language a characteristic world-view.(60/434)

since every language contains the whole conceptual fabric and mode ofpresentation of a portion of mankind(60/434)

Gadamer: [Welt-an-sichWelt-ansicht] It is true that the historical worlds that succeed one another in thecourse of history are different from one another and from the worldof today; but it is always, in whatever tradition we consider it, ahuman, ie. a linguistically constituted worldthat presents itself tous.[...]

This is of fundamental importance, for it makes the use of the

expression world in itself (Welt-an-sich)problematical. Thecriterion for the continuing expansion of our own world-pictureis notgiven by a world in itself that lies beyond all language. Rather theinfinite perfectibility of the human experience of the world meansthat, whatever language we use, we never achieve anything but anever more extended aspect, a view of the world (Welt-ansicht).(Wahrheit und Methode, Truth and Method, D423/E405)

H.-G.

Gadamer1900-2002

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Problem of Universals

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Problem of Universals -(1)

universal

(judgment)(particular)

(singular)universals

particularsingular

(individuals )

Eg. Dr. Shepherds dog

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Problem of Universals -(2)(Universalienstreit, controversy over universals) What is the nature of universals?(realism)(nominalism)

realism):(res)

extreme realism: Platoseparateness

moderate realism: Aristotleinherence

(nominalism) :(nomen)

Roscellinvox, flatus vocis

AbelardRoscellinmeaningful sound ,Sermovoxsigificativa

Occamconceptus(Begriff / begreifen)Conceptconceiveceivecon-Con-cept

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Problem of Universals -(3)concipereconceptus(Occam)(conceptualism)nomensermoconceptus(ex hominum institutione)

(Bochum)Kurt Flasch[...]

[...]7*sermosermo(meaning discrimination)

(p.224)

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Problem of Universals -(4)Avicenna, Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas

universale ante rem

(e.g. Plato)

universale in re

(e.g. Aristotle)

universale post rem

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The Kantian Heritage of Humboldt

Whrend Leibniz den Weg des deutschen Idealismus im weitesten Sinne

angebahnt hat, gilt Kant als derjenige groe Philosoph, der Humboldtentscheidend beeinflusst hat, sowohl im Hinblick auf Methodik undTerminologie, als auch auf die philosophische Grundposition, weilHumboldt dem Kritizismus Kants im Grunde genommen treu gebliebenist. Wie Rudolf Haymund auch Cassirerprgnant ausgedrckt haben,

sind der Buchstabe und der Geist Kantsin Humboldts Arbeiten berallzu spren.[1]Kulturphilosophisch gesehen hat Humboldt nach Kant denHumanittsgedanken am strksten vertreten. Der groe BeitragHumboldts ber Kant hinaus liegt allein darin, dass Humboldt einenneuen Schwerpunkt fr den idealistischen und humanistischen Gedankengefunden hat, nmlich, im Problem der Sprache. So meinte auch Cassirer,

dass kraft der Vermittlung der Sprache, ein vllig neuer Weg undZugang zu den Geisteswissenschaften berhauptgefunden wurde.[2]

[1]Rudolf Haym, Humboldt-Biographie, zitiert von Ernst Cassirer, Die kantischen Elemente inWilhelm von Humboldts Sprachphilosophie, Festschrift fr Paul Hensel, hrsg. v. JuliusBinder (Greiz i. V. 1923), S. 105-127, besonders S. 109.

[2]Cassirer, ibid, S. 108

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Dogmatismus(childhood)Skeptizismus (adolescence)Kritizismus (adulthood)

Dogmatismus(rationalism)Skeptizismus (empiricism)Kritizismus (criticism)

rationalismempiricism

In a word, Leibniz intellectualisedappearances, just asLocke, according to his system of noogony(if I may be

allowed the use of such expressions), sensualisedallconcepts of the understanding, i.e.interpreted them as

nothing more than empirical or abstracted concepts of

reflection. (A271B327)

rationalismempiricism

Kants Relation to his predecessors:

(1) Rationalism & Empicism

Kants general

distinctionbetweensensualistsand

intellectualists

Eg. Epicurus vs Plato

See Chapter on History

of Pure Reason

(853-4 881-2)

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Kants Relation to his predecessors:

(2) Plato & Aristotle

Kant and Plato?

Parable of the light dove(5 8-9) It would be my own fault, if out of that which I ought to

reckon as appearance, I made mere illusion.(69)Kant and Aristotle?

Hylomorphism (lh hyle,moqfh morphe)

Doctrine of categories

Between Idealism and Realism

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Articulation

Artikulierter Lauthrbarer Laut Artikulation(Krper)

Articulated soundaudible soundArticulation

Form Matter (sound matter)

Artikulationsvermgen (441) Artikulationssinn

Articulation rest upon the power of mind over the vocal organs, tocompel them to deal with sound in accordance with the form of its

own working

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For Kant:

Form:form of intuition +form of thought

Humboldt:

Form of LanguageSound-form +Inner linguistic form

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