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Montaigne's view of skepticism and language in the Essais

  • Danilo Marcondes
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History of Linguistics 2005
This chapter is in the book History of Linguistics 2005

Abstract

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) was one of the most influential authors in the rise of modern thought, especially in the French context, his influence reaching philosophers as important as Descartes and Pascal in the seventeenth century. He was also one of the main representatives of the revival of ancient skepticism in the modern age, with his own brand of skeptical thought contributing to the development of modern skepticism as distinct from the ancient one. Language was discussed in the Essais (1570-1580) from a skeptical perspective, mainly in relation to knowledge, moral and cultural relativism, and religious experience. Montaigne contributed to the development of a philosophical discussion of language, addressing fundamental questions such as: the diversity of languages and cultural relativism, the imperfection and inadequacy of ordinary language for philosophical reflection, and consequently, the need for a special language and a specific style such as that found in the Essais.

Abstract

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) was one of the most influential authors in the rise of modern thought, especially in the French context, his influence reaching philosophers as important as Descartes and Pascal in the seventeenth century. He was also one of the main representatives of the revival of ancient skepticism in the modern age, with his own brand of skeptical thought contributing to the development of modern skepticism as distinct from the ancient one. Language was discussed in the Essais (1570-1580) from a skeptical perspective, mainly in relation to knowledge, moral and cultural relativism, and religious experience. Montaigne contributed to the development of a philosophical discussion of language, addressing fundamental questions such as: the diversity of languages and cultural relativism, the imperfection and inadequacy of ordinary language for philosophical reflection, and consequently, the need for a special language and a specific style such as that found in the Essais.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. The natural: Its meanings and functions in the history of linguistic thought 1
  5. On grammatical gender as an arbitrary and redundant category 24
  6. Penser l'espace, penser l'espèce: Modélisation des affinités linguistiques 37
  7. On the origins of the participle as a part of speech 50
  8. Grammar as a liberal art in antiquity 67
  9. Priscian's pedagogy: A critique of the Institutio de nomine et pronomine et verbo 80
  10. L'horizon de retrospection du Mithridate de Conrad Gessner (1555) 89
  11. Montaigne's view of skepticism and language in the Essais 103
  12. Competing models for a 17th century universal language: A study of the dispute between George Dalgarno and John Wilkins 112
  13. La notion d'unité sonore dans les grammaires françaises des 17ème et 18ème siècles 120
  14. Une "Grammaire générale et raisonnée" en 1651 (1635?): Description et intérpretation d'une découverte empirique 131
  15. 'Analogy': The history of a concept and a term from the 17th to the 19th century 156
  16. Une écriture de l'histoire: La Lettre à M. Pinglin sur l'histoire de la science grammaticale 169
  17. Quels facteurs (linguistiques ou historiques) considérer dans l'accord en français? Étude de certains cas dans le Journal de la langue française (1784) d'Urbain Domergue 183
  18. Nicolas Beauzée: La clé inexploitée de la phonétique française 197
  19. Colonialism, scientific expeditions and linguistics in 19th century Brazil 212
  20. The concept of civilization in historic Brazilian linguistics 228
  21. The European linguistic tradition and early missionary grammars in Central and South America 236
  22. Steinthal and the limits of etymology: The special case of Chinese 252
  23. An epistemological assessment of the Neogrammarian movement 262
  24. Privileged languages and others in the history of historical-comparative linguistics 274
  25. The nationalist turn: Dutch linguistics and German philosophy in the 18th and early 19th centuries 288
  26. Représentations de l'autre: L'italien et les Italiens dans quelques dictionnaires bilingues des XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles 308
  27. L'utile et l'agréable dans les méthodes familières et autres ouvrages utilisés pour l'apprentissage du français aux Pays-Bas (XVIIIe-XIXe siècles) 321
  28. La reformulation dans la lexicographie des XVIe-XIXe siècles: L'emergence de la syntaxe française 333
  29. Words and concepts for child language learning in late 19th versus late 20th century America 344
  30. La lexicologie, un savoir scolarisable? 356
  31. Aspects de la linguistique prescriptive: Les perceptions des vocabulaires de specialité à travers des dictionnaires français (XIXe et XXe s.) 372
  32. Semantique et analogie dans la tradition grammaticale arabe: La valeur des formes verbales 386
  33. Meaning by collocation: The Firthian filiation of corpus linguistics 404
  34. Kristeva on the encyclopedists: Linguistics, semanalysis, and the epistemology of Enlightenment science 416
  35. La preuve de Gaifman: Réflexions sur la méthode de construction des grammaires catégorielles 432
  36. Name index 441
  37. Subject index 447
https://doi.org/10.1075/sihols.112.09mar

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. The natural: Its meanings and functions in the history of linguistic thought 1
  5. On grammatical gender as an arbitrary and redundant category 24
  6. Penser l'espace, penser l'espèce: Modélisation des affinités linguistiques 37
  7. On the origins of the participle as a part of speech 50
  8. Grammar as a liberal art in antiquity 67
  9. Priscian's pedagogy: A critique of the Institutio de nomine et pronomine et verbo 80
  10. L'horizon de retrospection du Mithridate de Conrad Gessner (1555) 89
  11. Montaigne's view of skepticism and language in the Essais 103
  12. Competing models for a 17th century universal language: A study of the dispute between George Dalgarno and John Wilkins 112
  13. La notion d'unité sonore dans les grammaires françaises des 17ème et 18ème siècles 120
  14. Une "Grammaire générale et raisonnée" en 1651 (1635?): Description et intérpretation d'une découverte empirique 131
  15. 'Analogy': The history of a concept and a term from the 17th to the 19th century 156
  16. Une écriture de l'histoire: La Lettre à M. Pinglin sur l'histoire de la science grammaticale 169
  17. Quels facteurs (linguistiques ou historiques) considérer dans l'accord en français? Étude de certains cas dans le Journal de la langue française (1784) d'Urbain Domergue 183
  18. Nicolas Beauzée: La clé inexploitée de la phonétique française 197
  19. Colonialism, scientific expeditions and linguistics in 19th century Brazil 212
  20. The concept of civilization in historic Brazilian linguistics 228
  21. The European linguistic tradition and early missionary grammars in Central and South America 236
  22. Steinthal and the limits of etymology: The special case of Chinese 252
  23. An epistemological assessment of the Neogrammarian movement 262
  24. Privileged languages and others in the history of historical-comparative linguistics 274
  25. The nationalist turn: Dutch linguistics and German philosophy in the 18th and early 19th centuries 288
  26. Représentations de l'autre: L'italien et les Italiens dans quelques dictionnaires bilingues des XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles 308
  27. L'utile et l'agréable dans les méthodes familières et autres ouvrages utilisés pour l'apprentissage du français aux Pays-Bas (XVIIIe-XIXe siècles) 321
  28. La reformulation dans la lexicographie des XVIe-XIXe siècles: L'emergence de la syntaxe française 333
  29. Words and concepts for child language learning in late 19th versus late 20th century America 344
  30. La lexicologie, un savoir scolarisable? 356
  31. Aspects de la linguistique prescriptive: Les perceptions des vocabulaires de specialité à travers des dictionnaires français (XIXe et XXe s.) 372
  32. Semantique et analogie dans la tradition grammaticale arabe: La valeur des formes verbales 386
  33. Meaning by collocation: The Firthian filiation of corpus linguistics 404
  34. Kristeva on the encyclopedists: Linguistics, semanalysis, and the epistemology of Enlightenment science 416
  35. La preuve de Gaifman: Réflexions sur la méthode de construction des grammaires catégorielles 432
  36. Name index 441
  37. Subject index 447
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