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The Discovery Of Language

Posted on:2008-05-03Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:L WenFull Text:PDF
GTID:2155360242957596Subject:Foreign philosophy
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Actually, where does our language come from?Traces this question is from ancient times till now. Is God grants the language to the human or whether the human has created language naturally? At that time of 17, 18th century in Europe continent, The Christian theology of what it's status cannot be shaken sums up this question of Language occurrence to God grants. In at that time, because "Holy Bible" affects, this theory has not received any suspicion since to produce. Since 18th century, the natural sciences make the unprecedented progress and achievement, People's vision starts to change to human's own rational creativity, they believed that language is one kind of human's self-creation.However, the question looked as if not that simple, This question about language occurrence will derive other related questions: First, if the language is not grants by God, then how this kind of viewpoint does establish under a background that God creates all? That is to say, what is the tenable basis and how do we refute the theory of language is grants by God? Next, if the language origins from human, then, language is one product which human receives mechanical stimulation or it is a result which by human's initiative creations? If it is produces from our initiative creations, where does this creations root in? Is it precisely our rationality or the mind? If human's rationality or the mind are the essence in which distinguishes between the human and animal, and language occurrence because of this, then, what is the 'root' of languages? Whether the language's root is human's essentiality? And further inquiry, whether it is really such simple that it is the rationality creates the language? Whether it is the creation and be created relates between rationality and language? Such series of questions above could not be avoided and need to give a reasonable explanation by those who approve of language occurrence by human's creations. Finally, not only must reply on those series of questions above, but also have to face on other difficulties because of those problems about language's analysis: if we acknowledge the language origins from human, and we also acknowledge human are crowd of animals which lives in social groups, so their existence must only have in one immediately kind of specific social history, culture or in the national environment can be possible. From this, we can get the result: language that creates by humans cannot get rid of national and social environment what it relies on. As the matter stands, different national characteristic or energetic special characteristic will affect everyone, who lives in his nationality, makes judges from a concrete physical image and forms a concept. Therefore, because different nationality's judgment to a same concrete physical image is different, it would make the concept's relativization. The result it does like this would deny the truth universal validity. Those series questions, such as: language relativism, not commensurability and the theory about language integrity are similar questions what the natural language philosophers have to face.Along with more and more questions emergence, this kind of trace about language's question becomes more and more deeply. At the same time, we can also find some traces about language's question of some ideas about early philosophers in the period of ancient Greece. It's a healthy thing for us to trace it and deep it. This article would go on with these clues, and try to reorganizes and launches pending discussion question which origins from the question of 'where does our language come from?' . This is also the central meaning of writing this article.
Keywords/Search Tags:Language, Reason, History, Nation, anti-Enlightenment
PDF Full Text Request
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