Philosophy and the language of the people : the claims of common speech from Petrarch to Locke / Lodi Nauta, University of Groningen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nauta, Lodi, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophy--Terminology.

Philosophy.

Language and languages--Philosophy.

Language and languages.

Philosophy, Modern.

Philosophy, Medieval.

Philosophy--Language.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vi, 275 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2021.

Summary:

Which language should philosophers use: technical or common language? In a book as important for intellectual historians as it is for philosophers, Lodi Nauta addresses a vital question which still has resonance today: is the discipline of philosophy assisted or disadvantaged by employing a special vocabulary? By the Middle Ages philosophy had become a highly technical discipline, with its own lexicon and methods. The Renaissance humanist critique of this specialised language has been dismissed as philosophically superficial, but the author demonstrates that it makes a crucial point: it is through the misuse of language that philosophical problems arise. He charts the influence of this critique on early modern philosophers, including Hobbes and Locke, and shows how it led to the downfall of medieval Aristotelianism and the gradual democratization of language and knowledge. His book will be essential reading for anyone interested in the transition from medieval to modern philosophy.

Contents:

Cover

Half-title page

Title page

Copyright page

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1 Early Humanist Critics of Scholastic Language: Francesco Petrarch and Leonardo Bruni

Chapter 2 From a Linguistic Point of View: Lorenzo Valla's Critique of Aristotelian-Scholastic Philosophy

Chapter 3 Giovanni Pontano on Language, Meaning, and Grammar

Chapter 4 Juan Luis Vives on Language, Knowledge, and the Topics

Chapter 5 Anti-Essentialism and the Rhetoricization of Knowledge: Mario Nizolio's Humanist Attack on Universals

Chapter 6 Skepticism and the Critique of Language in Francisco Sanches

Chapter 7 Thomas Hobbes and the Rhetoric of Common Language

Chapter 8 Between Private Signification and Common Use: Locke on Ideas, Words, and the Social Dimension of Language

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 23 Jul 2021).

ISBN:

1-108-99820-8

1-108-99801-1

1-108-99147-5

OCLC:

1266907474