Origin of language and origin of languages

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-23
Author(s):  
Giorgio Graffi
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Origin Of Language ◽  
History Of ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
The One ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Linguistic Problem ◽  
Linguistic Means

Abstract The question of monogenesis vs. polygenesis of human languages was essentially neglected by contemporary linguistics until the appearance of the research on the genetics of human populations by L. L. Cavalli-Sforza and his collaborators, which brought to light very exciting parallels between the distribution of human populations and that of language families. The present paper highlights some aspects of the history of the problem and some points of the contemporary discussion. We first outline the “Biblical paradigm”, which persisted until the 18th century even in scientific milieus. Then, we outline some aspects of the 19th century debate about monogenesis vs. polygenesis of languages and about the relationships between languages and human populations: in particular, we will discuss the views of Darwin on the one hand and of some linguists on the other (Schleicher, M. Müller, Whitney and Trombetti). It will be seen that their positions only partly coincide; at any rate, it will be shown that Darwin was partly inspired by the problems of the genealogy of languages and that the linguists, for their part, took account of Darwin’s views. Turning to today’s debate, we first present the positions of the linguists arguing for monogenesis, namely J. Greenberg and M. Ruhlen, as well as the criticisms raised against their methods by the majority of linguists. Other scholars, such as D. Bickerton or N. Chomsky, essentially argue, from different points of view, that the problem of monogenesis vs. polygenesis of languages is a “pseudo-problem”. We however think that, although the question cannot be reasonably solved by linguistic means, it cannot be discarded as meaningless: it is an anthropological rather than a linguistic problem. We present some reflections and suggestions, in the light of which the monogenetic hypothesis appears as more tenable than the polygenetic one.

On the nature of chemistry

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric R. Scerri
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Recent History ◽  
History Of Chemistry ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Fundamental Unity ◽  
The 19Th Century

<span>The very nature of chemistry presents us with a tension. A tension between the exhilaration of diversity of substances and forms on the one hand and the safety of fundamental unity on the other. Even just the recent history of chemistry has been al1 about this tension, from the debates about Prout's hypothesis as to whether there is a primary matter in the 19th century to the more recent speculations as to whether computers will enable us to virtually dispense with experimental chemistry.</span>

scholarly journals Kant, Nietzsche and the idealization of friendship into nihilism

2013 ◽  
Vol 54 (128) ◽  
pp. 401-417
Author(s):  
Paul van Tongeren
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Literary Imagination ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Articles Of Faith ◽  
The 19Th Century

Is friendship still possible under nihilistic conditions? Kant and Nietzsche are important stages in the history of the idealization of friendship, which leads inevitably to the problem of nihilism. Nietzsche himself claims on the one hand that only something like friendship can save us in our nihilistic condition, but on the other hand that precisely friendship has been unmasked and become impossible by these very conditions. It seems we are struck in the nihilistic paradox of not being allowed to believe in the possibility of what we cannot do without. Literary imagination since the 19th century seems to make us even more skeptical. Maybe Beckett provides an illustration of a way out that fits well to Nietzsche's claim that only "the most moderate, those who do not require any extreme articles of faith" will be able to cope with nihilism.

Stukeley, Avebury and the Druids

Antiquity ◽  
1935 ◽  
Vol 9 (33) ◽  
pp. 22-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Piggott
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Prehistoric Archaeology ◽  
Poetic Tradition ◽  
Romantic Movement ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
English Culture

There have been few tendencies in the history of English culture with so profound a contemporary influence as the so-called Romantic Movement of the 18th and early 19th centuries, and still fewer with such a strangely assorted progeny. That toying with ‘the Gothick’, which produced such early jeux d'esprit as Walpole's Strawberry Hill or Beckford's Fonthill, led, on the one hand, to the Albert Memorial, and, on the other, to the sculpture of Eric Gill; in literature, while the Romantics founded an honourable poetic tradition extending from Collins through Wordsworth to Blunden, it is surely not fantastic to see in such works as Lewis' Bravo of Venice the genesis of the modern thriller. Most strange of all, one outcome of the Romantic Movement was a new branch of science. For prehistoric archaeology in England was not the product of the classical lore so eagerly absorbed from Italy in the 16th and 17th centuries, but originated in those eccentric gentlemen of the 18th century who perambulated the countryside studying at first hand the antiquities of their own forefathers.

scholarly journals Changing Interpretations of Plotinus: The 18th-Century Introduction of the Concept of a ‘System of Philosophy’

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leo Catana
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
History Of Philosophy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Modern Reader ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Method Point

Abstract This article critically explores the history and nature of a hermeneutic assumption which frequently guided interpretations of Plotinus from the 18th century onwards, namely that Plotinus advanced a system of philosophy. It is argued that this assumption was introduced relatively late, in the 18th and 19th centuries, and that it was primarily made possible by Brucker’s methodology for the history of philosophy, dating from the 1740s, to which the concept of a ‘system of philosophy’ was essential. It is observed that the concept is absent from Ficino’s commentary from the 15th century, and that it remained absent in interpretations produced between the 15th and 18th centuries. It is also argued that the assumption of a ‘system of philosophy’ in Plotinus is historically incorrect—we do not find this concept in Plotinus’ writings, and his own statements about method point in other directions. Eduard Zeller (active in the second half of the 19th century) is typically regarded as the first to give a satisfying account of Plotinus’ philosophy as a whole. In this article, on the other hand, Zeller is seen as having finalised a tradition initiated in the 18th century. Very few Plotinus scholars have examined the interpretative development prior to Zeller. Schiavone (1952) and Bonetti (1971), for instance, have given little attention to Brucker’s introduction of the concept of a ‘system of philosophy’. The present analysis, then, has value for an understanding of Plotinus’ Enneads. It also explains why “pre-Bruckerian” interpretations of Plotinus appear alien to the modern reader; the analysis may even serve to make some sense of the hermeneutics employed by Renaissance Platonists and commentators, who are often eclipsed from the tradition of Platonism.

scholarly journals Historicodogmatic Treatise by Elias Meniates and its 18th-century Serbian Translators from Greek

Slovene ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dzhamilia N. Ramazanova
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Final Stage ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Russian Translation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Slavic Languages ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Translation ◽  
The One ◽  
Catholic Churches

The article discusses the history of translation by the 18th-century Serbian translators of the Greek treatise “Πέτρα σκανδάλου” (“Rock of Offence”) written by the theologian and preacher Elias Meniates (1667–1714) in which he deals with the causes of interconfessional polemic between the Orthodox and the Catholic Churches. The history of these translations is placed within the context of interest in Meniates’ works, evidenced in Europe and in the Christian East throughout the 18th century. The vivid style and argumentation of Meniates inspired Stefan Pisarev, inter alia, to translate “Πέτρα σκανδάλου” into Russian, which he did in 1744. In the focus of our research are manuscripts stored in several Serbian libraries and archive collections, namely, manuscripts of “Πέτρα σκανδάλου” translations made by Jovan Mladenović (in 1742) and Vićentije Rakić (in 1797/98). In the study we present, the biographies of the two authors of these unpublished translations are traced and defined more accurately. At the final stage of the study, we correlate the historical settings and probable reasons motivating Mladenović and Rakić to make the Serbian translations of the Greek treatise “Πέτρα σκανδάλου”, on the one hand, and the factors leading to the emergence of a Russian translation of the same treatise by Pisarev, on the other. As believed by the author of this article, the aforementioned translations will serve as a valuable linguistic source for historians of Slavic languages and letters in their comparative studies.

scholarly journals Patterns in the history of the commentation on the so-called ḥadīth Ibn Masʿūd

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 137-162
Author(s):  
Thomas Eich
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Medical Knowledge ◽  
The Other ◽  
History Of ◽  
Diachronic Analysis ◽  
The One ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Clear Line

This paper analyzes the so-called Ibn Masʿūd ḥadīth (see below) on two levels: the specific wording of the ḥadīth on the one hand and a significant portion of the commentation written about it since the 10th century until today on the other. This aims at three things. First, I will show how the ḥadīth’s exact wording still developed after the stabilization of the material in collections. Although this development occurred only on the level of single words, it can be shown that it is a reflection of discussions documented in the commentaries. Therefore, these specific examples show that there was not always a clear line separating between ḥadīth text and commentaries on that text. Second, the diachronic analysis of the commentaries will provide material for a nuanced assessment in how far major icons of commentation such as Nawawī and Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī significantly influenced following generations in composing their respective commentaries. Third, I will argue that in the specific case study provided here significant changes in the commentation can be witnessed since the second half of the 19th century which are caused by the spread of basic common medical knowledge in that period.

scholarly journals HISTORICAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL IDEAS OF A.P. NECHAEV. PART 1: HISTORY OF LITERATURE, LITERARY CRITICISM, HISTORICAL PSYCHOLOGY

2021 ◽  
pp. 252-270
Author(s):  
А.А. Костригин
Keyword(s):  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Emotional State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Psychological Traits ◽  
Artistic Creativity ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Psychological Tasks ◽  
History Of Literature ◽  
The 19Th Century

Статья посвящена Александру Петровичу Нечаеву (1870-1948), выдающемуся отечественному психологу и педагогу первой половины XX в. В данной работе А.П. Нечаев показан как историк психологии. Рассматриваются историко-психологические работы и взгляды ученого по трем направлениям: анализ историко-литературных работ, в которых освещаются идеи, связанные с исторической психологией; анализ работ, освещавших состояние психологии на рубеже XIX-XX вв. и об отдельных персоналиях современной Нечаеву психологии; анализ специальных историко-психологических и историко-философских работ. В первой части представляются историко-литературные и литературно-критические работы: «Об отношении Крылова к науке» (1895) и «Поэзия А.Н. Майкова. Критический очерк» (1898). Отечественный психолог анализирует взгляды И.А. Крылова на ученых и научную деятельность, выраженных в художественных метафорах и отражавших общественные и народные представления о науке. Рассматривая творчество Майкова, Нечаев показывает, что поэзия может выполнять психологические задачи: с одной стороны, она влияет на эмоциональное состояние читателя и на развитие его личности, с другой - выражает внутренние особенности самого поэта, и необходима ему для удовлетворения собственных потребностей и стремлений. Несмотря на то, что напрямую эти работы не касаются проблематики истории психологии, они показывают интерес Нечаева к историко-научным исследованиям, а также могут быть отнесены к области исторической психологии, поскольку в них представлено изучение образов ученого и поэта и их психологические качества, характерные для XIX в., через художественное творчество и литературу. The article is dedicated to Aleksander Petrovich Nechaev (1870-1948), an outstanding Russian psychologist and teacher of the first half of the 20th century. In this work, Nechaev is presented as a historian of psychology. The historical-psychological views and works of the scientist in three directions are considered: analysis of historical and literary works in which ideas related to historical psychology are presented; analysis of works covering the state of psychology at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries and dedicated to Nechaev’s contemporaries in psychology; analysis of special historical-psychological and historical-philosophical works. The first part presents the historical-literary and literary-critical works of Nechaev: «On Krylov's attitude to science» (1895) and «Poetry of A.N. Maikov. A critical sketch» (1898). The Russian psychologist analyzes the views of I.A. Krylov on scientists and scientific activities, expressed in artistic metaphors and reflecting public and popular ideas about science. Considering the work of Maikov, Nechaev shows that poetry can perform psychological tasks: on the one hand, it affects the emotional state of the reader and the development of his personality, on the other hand, it expresses the inner characteristics of the poet himself, poetry is necessary for him to satisfy his own needs and intentions. Even though these works do not directly relate to the problems of history of psychology, they show the interest of Nechaev to historical-scientific research, and can also be attributed to the field of historical psychology: through artistic creativity and literature, the author studies the images of a scientist and a poet and their psychological traits specific to the 19th century.

THE INFLUENCE OF ABSINTHE ON WORLD CULTURE

2021 ◽  
pp. 5-11
Author(s):  
Beloglazov I.A. ◽  
Biryukova N.V. ◽  
Nesterova N.V.
Keyword(s):  
Side Effects ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
World Culture ◽  
Artemisia Absinthium ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
The 19Th Century

The authors of the work analyzed the sources that characterize the influence of absinthe on human culture. Absinthe, an alcoholic drink containing wormwood (Artemisia absinthium L.), was banned in the early 20th century due to unusual properties attributed to the side effects of drinking this alcohol. This review contains information about the history of the drink. On the one hand, absinthe left its mark in the culture as a “muse” for the creators, remaining forever imprinted in the works of various types of art, on the other hand, it became the main enemy for the most part of society because of the harmful properties that was characterized by researchers of the 19th century.

„Ein Arzneibuch für alle Rezepte“ (Paolo Mattia Doria)

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 465-494
Author(s):  
Gisela Schlüter
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Political History ◽  
The Other ◽  
General Level ◽  
The Political ◽  
Power Politics ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

Summary „A pharmacopoeia for any prescription“ (Paolo Mattia Doria).Machiavelliana after 1700 Recent research has gained many new insights into Machiavelli’s influence on Early Modern European political history. This article focuses on a so far little researched, but decisive stage in the history of Machiavelli’s influence, namely Paolo Mattia Doria’s treatise „La Vita Civile“ (1709/10; further editions in the 18th century), which was written in Naples, a centre of the Early European Enlightenment. In a peculiar mixture of anti-machiavellism that is inspired by Platonic thought and allegiance to Machiavellian ideas, Doria follows the structure and texture of Machiavelli’s „Il Principe“. The political treatise is still coloured by humanist ideas and includes a speculum principis („L’Educazione del Principe“). Despite the similarities, Doria criticizes Machiavelli’s amoral analysis of power politics and postulates, with reference to Machiavelli’s „Discorsi“, an ideal republic or a principality of virtue with a virtuous ruler (principe virtuoso) at the top. In the course of his analysis, Doria re-moralizes Machiavelli’s morally neutral, praxeological concept of virtù. The treatise reflects the fork in the history of Machiavelli’s influence both on a general level and in its details: the ambivalence of „Il Principe“ as political advice for the successful and unscrupulous prince on the one hand but, on the other hand, as an exposure of unscrupulous power politics, written modo obliquo by the passionate Republican whom Rousseau, for example, wanted to see in Machiavelli.

Political Power and Corporate Managerialism in Local Government: The Organisation of Executive Functions

1997 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Collinge
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Chief Executive ◽  
The Other ◽  
Democratic Accountability ◽  
Political Structure ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
The 19Th Century

The history of British local government since the 19th century reveals two opposite organisational tendencies. On the one hand there has been the entrenchment of a decentralised political structure based around the committee system; on the other hand there have been recurrent expressions of concern at the absence of executive unity within councils, and the development of a number of reintegrative corporate initiatives. Sometimes these initiatives have taken a political and sometimes a managerial form; the most prominent managerial expression of the pursuit of corporate cohesion is the post of chief executive, but this post is to varying degrees disabled by the absence of a cohesive political structure in those authorities where politicians actively seek to govern. It is only where politicians are relatively weak, and where local democratic accountability is attenuated and power transferred to the officers, that the post of chief executive can live up to its corporate expectations. The perpetuation of these circumstances reflects in part a reluctance amongst councillors to concentrate local political power in a centralised political executive; a reluctance which, in practice, plays into the hands of those who favour a managerialist future for local governance.

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