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A comprehensive examination of the advantages and disadvantages of philosophical jargon, examining its origins in early modern philosophy.
List of contents
Introduction; 1. Early Humanist Critics of Scholastic Language: Francesco Petrarca and Leonardo Bruni; 2. From a Linguistic Point of View: Lorenzo Valla's Critique of Aristotelian-Scholastic Philosophy; 3. Giovanni Pontano on Language, Meaning, and Grammar; 4. Juan Luis Vives on Language, Knowledge, and the Topics; 5. Anti-Essentialism and the Rhetoricization of Knowledge: Mario Nizolio's Humanist Attack on Universals; 6. Skepticism and the Critique of Language in Francisco Sanches; 7. Thomas Hobbes and the Rhetoric of Common Language; 8. Between Private Signification and Common Use: Locke on Ideas, Words, and the Social Dimension of Language; Conclusion.
About the author
Lodi Nauta is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Groningen. He is author and editor of several monographs and essay collections, including the award-winning In Defense of Common Sense: Lorenzo Valla's Humanist Critique of Scholastic Philosophy (2009), and has written numerous journal articles and book chapters on medieval and early modern philosophy. He was a recipient of the Spinoza Award in 2016.
Summary
Which language should we use in philosophy: technical or common language? Medieval philosophers and Renaissance humanists differed widely on this matter. This book shows how an appeal to common language by humanists and philosophers such as Hobbes and Locke led to a democratization of language and knowledge.
Additional text
'This book is a great and inspiring tour d'horizon into philosophical reflection on the use of language – and, consequently, on linguistic practice – from the emergence of Renaissance humanism to major thinkers such as Hobbes and Locke. The author invites us into his novel and fascinating story of the genesis of Renaissance and Early Modern (and even contemporary) philosophy.' Jan Papy, Catholic University of Leuven
