 |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Universal language - Seventeenth century | | Universal language - Seventeenth century: Encyclopedia II - Universal language - Seventeenth century | | Recognisable strands in the contemporary ideas on universal languages took form only in Early Modern Europe. A lingua franca or trade language was nothing very new; but an international auxiliary language was a natural wish in the light of the relative decline of Latin. Literature in the vernacular languages was on the rise from the early Renaissance, while learned works mostly ceased to be wri ...
See also:Universal language, Universal language - Seventeenth century, Universal language - Eighteenth century, Universal language - Nineteenth Century, Universal language - Contemporary ideas, Universal language - Pentecost | | | Universal language, Universal language - Contemporary ideas, Universal language - Eighteenth century, Universal language - Nineteenth Century, Universal language - Pentecost, Universal language - Seventeenth century, Constructed language, Engineered language, International auxiliary language, Characteristica universalis, Energy Systems Language | | |
| | | Universal language: Encyclopedia II - Universal language - Seventeenth century
Universal language - Seventeenth century
Recognisable strands in the contemporary ideas on universal languages took form only in Early Modern Europe. A lingua franca or trade language was nothing very new; but an international auxiliary language was a natural wish in the light of the relative decline of Latin. Literature in the vernacular languages was on the rise from the early Renaissance, while learned works mostly ceased to be written in Latin during the course of the eighteenth century.
In the work of Gottfried Leibniz there are found many elements relating to the possibilities of universal languages, notably that of a constructed language, a concept that gradually replaced that of a rationalised form of Latin as the natural basis for a projected universal language. Leibniz's work is bracketed by the earlier mathematical ideas of René Descartes, and the satirical attack of Voltaire on Panglossianism. Descartes succeeded with his unifying theory, wedding algebra to geometry in the future analytic geometry.
Extrapolating, Leibniz imagined amplifying all conceptual thought with 'algebra'. In his terms, a calculus ratiocinator could put reasoning onto a firmer basis, a mathesis universalis within the scope of everyone's thoughts. The universal language aspects, still elusive today despite decades of research into symbolic artificial intelligence, required a notation, the 'universal characteristic'.
Other seventeenth-century proposals for a 'philosophical' (i.e. universal) language include those by Francis Lodwick, Thomas Urquhart (possibly parodic), George Dalgarno (Ars signorum, 1661), and John Wilkins (An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language, 1668). The classification scheme in Roget's Thesaurus ultimately derives from Wilkins's Essay.
Early modern ideas about philosophical language were motivated by theological preoccupations in various different ways, but not necessarily Pentecost (see below) in this context.
Other related archives1661, 1668, Adamic language, An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language, Arabic language, Babel, Basque, Bible, Biblical, Book of Acts, Candide, Catholicism, Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Recognition, Characteristica Universalis, Characteristica universalis, China, Chinese language, Christian, Constructed language, Dr. Pangloss, Early Modern, Energy Systems Language, Engineered language, Erse, Esperanto, Europe, Fall of Man, Francis Lodwick, George Dalgarno, Gottfried Leibniz, Hebrew, Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit, India, International auxiliary language, Irish, Islam, Japan, Joel, John Wilkins, Jonathan Swift, Jorge Luis Borges, Kabbalah, Korea, Laputa, Latin language, Medieval Latin, Michel Foucault, Middle Ages, New Testament, Panglossianism, Pentecost, Qur'an, Renaissance, René Descartes, Roget, Saint Peter, Sanskrit, Thesaurus, Thomas Urquhart, Titan's, Tower of Babel, Volapük, Voltaire, Vulgate Bible, algebra, analytic geometry, calculus ratiocinator, comparative linguistics, constructed language, eighteenth century, evaluation, fool's gold, geometry, glossolalia, golden age, hubris, intellectual rigour, international auxiliary language, lingua franca, literati, mathesis universalis, mother tongue, myth, mythography, nineteenth century, optimism, parody, philology, reasoning, unifying theory, universal characteristic
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Seventeenth century", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
|
|
|
More material related to Universal Language can be found here:
|
|
|
« Back
|
Search the Global Oneness web site |
|
|
|
|
|
|
