scholarly journals Does Language Determine Our World’s Borders? The Deaf Beyond the Pale

2019 ◽  
pp. 129-138
Author(s):  
Magdalena Szpilman

Does Language Determine Our World’s Borders? The Deaf Beyond the PaleThe limits of our language are the limits of our worldLudwig Wittgenstein“If not in words, how did she organize her thoughts?,” asks contemporary American writer André Aciman thinking of his deaf mother. In other words, how did she organize her world – one could ask, since even if not consciously, it is often assumed that “the limits of our language are the limits of our world.” Taking Ludwig Wittgenstein’s well-known dictum as a starting point, I would like to present an interdisciplinary approach to the subject, set on the border of comparative literature, linguistics, and medicine. In my paper, using the works of Plato (Cratylus), Denis Diderot (Paradox of Acting), Étienne Bonnot de Condillac (Philosophical Writings of Etienne Bonnot Abbé de Condillac), Oliver Sacks (Seeing Voices: A Journey into the World of the Deaf), and others, I focus on how people perceive the borders (limits) of our world through the prism of language. Is language just a prosthesis, a grafted limb one can live without? Do hands speak more intimately than words? Or maybe deafness is more of a disability than blindness? Is hearing essential for creating memory, allowing comparison, judgment and association of ideas? From a medical point of view, it is impossible to develop speech without hearing. So how does not hearing and therefore not speaking limit our world? Does it at all? Czy język określa granice naszego świata? Głusi poza nawiasemGranice naszego języka są granicami naszego świata.(Ludwig Wittgenstein)Jeśli nie w słowach, jak organizowała swoje myśli? – pyta współczesny amerykański pisarz André Acimana w eseju o swoje głuchej matce. Innymi słowy, można zapytać - jak organizowała swój świat - bo nawet nieświadomie wierzymy, że: granice naszego języka są granicami naszego świata. Biorąc za punkt wyjścia słynne powiedzenie Ludwiga Wittgensteina oraz wykorzystując dzieła Platona (Kratylos), Denisa Diderota (Paradoks o aktorze), Étienne’a Bonnota de Condillaca (Traktat o wrażeniach zmysłowych), Olivera Sacksa (Zobaczyć głos) i innych, analizuję postrzeganie granic świata przez pryzmat języka, w ujęciu interdyscyplinarnym, z pogranicza literatury porównawczej, językoznawstwa i medycyny. Czy język to tylko proteza, bez której można żyć? Czy ręce mówią dokładniej niż słowa? A może bycie głuchym to niepełnosprawność znacznie bardziej ograniczająca niż bycie niewidomym? Czy słyszenie jest naprawdę ważne, ponieważ odgrywa kluczową rolę w tworzeniu pamięci, umożliwiając porównywanie, ocenianie i tworzenie skojarzeń? Słyszenie, z medycznego punktu widzenia, jest niezbędne do wykształcenia mowy. Jak zatem niesłyszenie, a zatem niemówienie ogranicza nasz świat? Czy ogranicza?

Istoriya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8 (106)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Olga Leontyeva

The article focuses on the approach to the study of human psyche and behavior, suggested by literary critic and ideologist of Narodnikism N. K. Mikhailovsky in the second half of the 19th century. Mikhaylovsky is proved to have developed an original model of scientific cognition, which was based on the synthesis of knowledge from different fields of science and built around an “anthropological or humane point of view”. Scientific search within the framework of this model is carried out with the help of the subjective method, based on the effort to understand another person, and the subject of cognition is a “profane” — a person complete with all of his social experience. The problems put forward by Mikhailovsky seem relevant in the light of the modern “cognitive turn” in the humanities, the desire for interdisciplinary approach and the creation of an integrative scientific picture of the world, fundamental rethinking of the classical objectivistic model of scientific knowledge.


1989 ◽  
Vol 21 (62) ◽  
pp. 67-91
Author(s):  
Samuel M. Cabanchick

Traditionally, the skeptic has been considered as a threat to our claims to true and justified knowledge. Also, certainty appears to be as the highest possible degree of knowledge. Knowledge and certainty are thus opposed to skepticism. This paper wants to show that 'certainty' and knowledge are, probably, incompatible notions, and that the possibility of a doubt about the assumed certainty is a necessary condition to distinguish between belief and knowledge, and to construe any kind of knowledge. Its starting point is Moore's notion of cerfainty, Moore demands that the expression of certainty (and, consequently, its formalization) should assume certain basic intuitions. One of them is the non-transmissibility of certainty; another intuition, fundamental to its Proof of the Existence of the World, is that certainty should be implied by knowledge. The claim of certainty: (1) "1 know with absolute certainty that p" can be considered as a 'residusl meaning' ofthe followingformal expression in the epistemic logic of Hintikka: (2) "SySyp", where 'S' is the epistemic operator which stands for knowledge, 'y' is the personal pronoun 'I', and 'p' refers to the proposition claimed to be known. In other words, we would claim to know that we know a given proposition. This proposal has some disadvantages: in Hintikka's view, it is virtually equivalent to 'Syp', that is, to 'I know that p', and, even if Hintikka went astray, because knowledge is transmissible, certainty would be transmissible too, and this contradicts Moore's intuition concerning the nontransmissibility of certainty. Another interpretation of (1) is (3) "N Sy p" ("I necessarily know that p") where 'N' is the necessity operator. But this interpretation fails because it also contradicts the non-transmissibility, and intuitively it is very hard to believe that "Sy p → N Sy p", that is to say, it is very hard to believe that it matches the intuition that knowledge implies certainty. An alternative would consist on relating certainty and belief. If 'C' is the belief operator in epistemic Iogic, the following theorem by Galván comes close to Moore's demands: (4) "Cy(Cyp - p)", that is, "I believe that I believe only truths", It can also be put as: (5) "Cyp - CSyp" ("If I believe that p, therefore I believe that I know that p"). Unfortunately, neither (4)1nor (s) are warrants of truth, but warrants of the imposeibility of doubt. This is opposed to Moore's claim that we know that the premises of the Proof of the Extemal World are undebatably true. Luis Villoro has pointed out the necessity of taking into consideration the epistemic communities when we speak of knowledge. This requirement is stated thus: (6) (Syp) → Cy(∃x)(P(-SxP. -Sx - p) . (x ≠ Y))), which can be read as: "If I know that p, therefore I believe that there is an x such that it is possible for him not to know that p and not to know that no-p, and x is not identical with me". This can be generalized thus: (7) (z)((Sxp) → Cx(∃x)(P(-SxP. -Sx - p) . (x ≠ z))) Moreover,from this formalization it followsthat a subject should be able to doubt about the truth ofhis belief: he must admit the possibility of error, and this conflicts with certainty. In order to be able to get knowledge I must abandon a strictly subjective warranty of truth, such as certainty, and this is possible when I accept the existence of a point of view which differs from mine, a point of view which lets undecided the truth or falsity of a proposition. In this way it is p088ible to distinguish between believing and knowing, because knowledge still demanda the possibility of error. So, there is a certain interpretation of skepticism that can see it not as a threat to the claims to justified knowledge, but as the position that truly offers the poesibility of knowledge, because it fights the solipsistic assurance of the subject of certainty. [Francisco Hernández]


Author(s):  
M. R. Saliya

The phenomenon of the law of the World Trade Organization continues to be the starting point for the subject of study by international lawyers. The study of the provisions of the "package of WTO agreements", the practices of arbitration groups and the Appeals Body, the reports of the International Law Commission on fragmentation in international law and the scientific doctrine of various countries prove that "WTO law" is a "special treaty regime" existing in the international law framework. Its isolation is out of the discussion at least because the application of the norms of "WTO law" is carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969. This article is an attempt to present the author's point of view on the existing problem.


Author(s):  
Richard Albert Wilson

But that same Where (Space), with its brother When (Time), are from the first the master-colours of our Dream-Grotto; the Canvas (the warp and woof thereof) whereon all our Dreams and Life-Visions are painted.—CARLYLE, Sartor Resartus, 1830.When Kant in his investigation of the nature and validity of human knowledge in the Critique of Pure Reason (1781) undertook an examination of the nature of Space and Time as the starting point in the discussion, he struck the path which all fruitful philosophical investigation has followed since. Since Space and Time are the two ‘forms’ within which the whole system of life and nature unfolds itself to the human mind, and are at the same time the ‘warp and woof on which man elaborates his mental sense-picture of the world, an examination of these two sense-forms should be the self-evident starting point in any true cosmic philosophy. Yet it seems to have taken something more than a century for the full significance of Kant’s method to sink into the general philosophical consciousness, and it is only in our own time that its fruits have begun to mature. What strikes one in the philosophical writings of the present century, whether starting from mathematics, or science, or pure speculation, is the common assumption in all of them that some exposition of Space and Time must form the foundation of any adequate treatment of the nature of the world, the human mind, and the structure of human knowledge. The title of Professor Alexander’s book, Space, Time, and Deity (1920), is symbolic of the modern point of view.


Bastina ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 95-109
Author(s):  
Đurđina Isić

The paper presents the results of research that included comparative study of the place and role of female characters in selected and representative comedies by Serbian comedigrapher Branislav Nušić (eng. MP, Suspicious person, Mrs Minister, Bereaved family, Dr, Deceased; srb. Narodni poslanik, Sumnjivo lice, Ožalošćena porodica, Dr, Pokojnik, Vlast) and Bulgarian comedigrapher Stefan Kostov (eng. Gold mine, Golemanov, Grasshoppers, Nameless comedy; blg. Zlamnama mina, Golemanov, Skakalci, Komediâ bez ime) in order to find similarities and differences in the process of comedigraphic shaping of female characters in the work of these two authors. The subject of the research was viewed primarily from a literary-theoretical point of view, and the dominant methods of study were comparative and analytical-synthetic. During the research, there was a differentiation of female characters in accordance with their motivational structures, psychological assemblies and the nature of the place and the role they play in the social environment in which they are located. Therefore, we can distinguish female characters who live in the province and who are fully representative of the small-town spirit, female characters who live in the capital and are a symbol of the modern age and female characters who dwell in the capital, but in fact, deeply down still carry a small-town view of the world. The structure of this paper is in line with this distinction. Conclusions made at the end of the study show that the representation of female characters in analyzed comedies of both comedigaphers is highly similar in its nature.


Author(s):  
Sara De Castro Cândido ◽  
Nàvia Regina Ribeiro da Costa ◽  
Ruzileide Epifânio Nogueira

This article seeks to an approach between the poetry of Carlos Drummond de Andrade, in Feeling of the world (1940), and the philosophy of Albert Camus, in The Myth of Sisyphus - the work of art as adventure of a spiritual destiny (2012), for, to think through by the language praticed by Drummond in two poems – Poem of necessity and Holding hands –, the be in the world and the passing of the man's condition of the being ontic to the be ontological, using also Durand (2012) and another theorists. Making use, as methodology, by the bibliographical research, and theory express of poetic text, concepts and analysis based on the phenomenological critique. Still in an interdisciplinary approach, to reflect the subject and its constitution as speech, will use theories of French line of discourse analysis (DA) and the line Anglo-Saxon (ADC), whose leading exponents are respectively, Michel Pêcheux and Norman Fairclough, relying on the concept of dialectical materialism. O Homem Absurdo na filosofia camusiana e na poesia drummondiana: a linguagem como fonte da (trans)formação Este artigo busca aproximações entre a poesia de Carlos Drummond de Andrade, em Sentimento do Mundo (1940), e a filosofia de Albert Camus, em O mito de Sísifo – a obra de arte como aventura de um destino espiritual (2012), para, por meio da linguagem praticada por Drummond em dois poemas – Poema da necessidade e Mãos dadas –, pensar o estar no mundo e a passagem do homem da condição de ser ôntico para ser ontológico, valendo-se, também, de Durand (2012) e de outros teóricos. Utiliza, como metodologia, a pesquisa bibliográfica e expressa teorias do texto poético, conceitos e análises com base na crítica fenomenológica. Ainda, numa atitude interdisciplinar, para refletir sobre o sujeito e sua constituição como discurso, baseia-se nas teorias da Análise de Discurso de linha francesa (AD) e de linha anglo-saxã (ADC), cujos principais expoentes são, respectivamente, Michel Pêcheux e Norman Fairclough, apoiando-se na concepção do materialismo dialético.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-120
Author(s):  
Sabrekova Maria S. ◽  

The article is devoted to the analysis of the scientific and philosophical thought development, which served as a challenge to the renewal of the content of environmental education at the beginning of the XXI century. The analysis of the stages of domestic environmental education development, its content from the point of view of reflection in it of relations between society and nature is carried out. A new stage in the environmental education development in the 21st century is associated with the spread of ideas of sustainable development, which determine the transformation of all spheres of human culture. The article provides examples of tasks that currently exist in the educational literature for one of the primary school subjects, and a variant of their change from the standpoint of environmental education in the interests of sustainable development is proposed. The modern literature on the methodology of teaching the subject “The World Around” in primary school is considered from the point of view of the representation of the content of environmental education in it. The author comes to the conclusion about the insufficiency of the natural science orientation of environmental education for the formation of students’ ideas about the environmental imperative – a key category for understanding the conditions for harmonizing nature, society and the world of things. Based on the analysis performed, a conclusion was made about the relevance of updating the content of school environmental education. It is substantiated that this will contribute to the achievement of its planned result – the formation of a modern ecological culture among students. Keywords: general education, environmental education, educational content, environmental imperative, environmental culture


1967 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-76
Author(s):  
Edwin Jones

John Lingard (1771–1851) was the first English historian to attempt to look at the history of England in the sixteenth century from an international point of view. He was unconvinced by the story of the Reformation in England as found in the works of previous historians such as Burnet and Hume, and believed that new light needed to be thrown on the subject. One way of doing this was to look at English history from the outside, so to speak, and Lingard held it to be a duty of the historian ‘to contrast foreign with native authorities, to hold the balance between them with an equal hand, and, forgetting that he is an Englishman, to judge impartially as a citizen of the world’. In pursuit of this ideal Lingard can be said to have given a new dimension to the source materials for English history. As parish priest in the small village of Hornby, near Lancaster, Lingard had few opportunities for travel. But he made good use of his various friends and former pupils at Douai and Ushaw colleges who were settled now in various parts of Europe. It was with the help of these friends that Lingard made contacts with and gained valuable information from archives in France, Italy and Spain. We shall concern ourselves here only with the story of Lingard's contacts with the great Spanish State Archives at Simancas.


Author(s):  
Татьяна Черкашина ◽  
Tatiana Cherkashina ◽  
Н. Новикова ◽  
N. Novikova ◽  
О. Трубина ◽  
...  

The article considers the conceptualization of the world from the point of view of its methodological paradigm assessment in the context of the globalizing world. A retrospective analysis of the relationship between language and human speech activity is given. The authors explain the role of language as a socio-cultural phenomenon in the formation of worldview systems that develop in the consciousness with the help of minimal units of human experience in their ideal meaningful representation in special concepts, which allows the individual to think within the boundaries of a certain linguistic picture of the world. Analyzes the problems of the functioning of communicative norms with regard to the hierarchy of the spiritual representations of the world. The article attempts to consider the impact of the “blurring” of the information boundaries of the globalizing world on the cognitive abilities of the individual in the nomination, qualification of the subject, phenomenon, process.


Author(s):  
Ekaterina A. Nechaeva

The present paper concerns the discourse of metamodernism problem as a type of the anthropological myth. The anthropological myth is considered as a project for describing reality, which models a systematic consistent idea of a human being, reality, status of reality and develops ethic, aesthetic, axiological views of a subject. The article aims to determine the peculiarities of metamodernism as a fictional discourse of the anthropological myth on the basis of XXI century European novel analysis. The analysis is carried out with the use of the comparative method, contextual description methods, axiomatic method, discourse analysis method etc. The topicality of the undertaken research is determined by the appearance of a new fictional discourse in art at the beginning of the XXI century as well as a new aesthetic paradigm, not described yet. The texts of Western European novels written in the first two decades of the XXI century reveal authors’ consistent refusal of the principles traditionally viewed as post-modernist – novels featuring a simulated nature of reality, novels problematizing the relationships between the signifying and the signified, decentralizing the subject etc. The attempts to describe a particular cultural situation as an alternative to postmodernism have been taken since the 80’s of the XX century; metamodernism acts as one of such projects for describing the modern cultural situation. The paper analyzes the interpretation models referring to XXI century art on the basis Western European novels of XXI century. The author of the paper concludes that metamodernism as a fictional discourse of the new anthropological myth reflects a different idea of the reality. Metamodernism as a cultural project aims to “return” ontology, assume the availability of reality outside the cognizing subject’s consciousness, and surpass the iconic nature of reality. From the epistemological point of view, metamodernism offers cognition of the world and “Ego” via experience of “Another Ego”.


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