Representationalism and the linguistic question in early modern philosophy

YANG Dachun

PDF(218 KB)
PDF(218 KB)
Front. Philos. China ›› 2008, Vol. 3 ›› Issue (4) : 595-606. DOI: 10.1007/s11466-008-0037-3
research-article

Representationalism and the linguistic question in early modern philosophy

Author information +
History +

Abstract

The view of language is greatly changed from early modern philosophy to later modern philosophy and to postmodern philosophy. The linguistic question in early modern philosophy, which is characterized by rationalism and empiricism, is discussed in this paper. Linguistic phenomena are not at the center of philosophical reflections in early modern philosophy. The subject of consciousness is at the center of the philosophy, which makes language serve purely as an instrument for representing thoughts. Locke, Leibniz and Descartes consider language from a representationalist point of view. To them, language itself is idealized and represents thought as if it were thought representing itself. Like the structural linguist Saussure, the founders of phenomenology and analytical philosophy give much attention to the logical or static structure of language, and stick up for the representationalism of early modern philosophy. However, their successors refuse to accept this attitude, meaning the final collapse of representationalism.

Keywords

language / idea / representationalism / early modern philosophy

Cite this article

Download citation ▾
YANG Dachun. Representationalism and the linguistic question in early modern philosophy. Front Phil Chin, 2008, 3(4): 595‒606 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11466-008-0037-3

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Brill
PDF(218 KB)

Accesses

Citations

Detail

Sections
Recommended

/