The Question of Linguistic Idealism

Free Download Richard Gaskin, "The Question of Linguistic Idealism"
English | ISBN: 0192872656 | 2025 | 336 pages | PDF | 4 MB
The chapters in this volume address the question to what extent the doctrine of linguistic idealism is coherent and plausible. Linguistic idealism, as defined here, holds that both the existence and the (very general) structure of the world are in some sense dependent on the existence and the structure of language. The interest of the thesis is that, since human language is an evolved, empirical phenomenon, it would be surprising and significant if the world, which existed long before human beings came into being and is in many respects quite obviously independent of them, were somehow beholden to the fact that human beings can talk about it. That, nevertheless, is the claim. Much of the discussion of linguistic idealism revolves around making the definition of it both precise and interesting, whether for purposes of attack or defence.