Abstract
LANGUAGE is viewed at an unusual angle in this work, which describes the interweaving of language with the other activities of mind. It is the philosophy rather than the analysis of language it presents. The author has striking conclusions to put forward on a variety of subjects such as “Language and Life”, “Language and Nature”, “Language and Science”, “Language and Poetry”, “Language and Religion”. To quote but one of them, he thinks that mathematics might be called a language which allows only pronouns in place of nouns, imperatives in place of verbs, copulative equations instead of adjectives and adverbs. The purpose of mathematical co-ordination of language and concept is the liberation of the concept from the senses. But there is danger in an extreme liberation, because too much reason and abstraction scarcely allow thought to find the way back to itself.
The Spirit of Language in Civilization.
Karl
Vossler
By. Translated by Oscar Oeser. (International Library of Psychology, Philosophy and Scientific Method.) Pp. vii + 247. (London: Kegan Paul and Co., Ltd., 1932.) 12s. 6d. net.
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The Spirit of Language in Civilization . Nature 131, 152 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/131152d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/131152d0