Comenius and the Real Character in England

PMLA ◽  
1955 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 1068-1081 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Demott
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
Real Character ◽  
The Real ◽  
Philosophical Language ◽  
John Wilkins

Since Bacon was the first Englishman to mention “real characters” and among the first to insist on the need for a truly precise means of expression, scholarship has come to regard the outcropping of linguistic schemes in the seventeenth century as a direct result of his writings. The influence of his “semantic sense” on later thinkers has been traced with some care; Richard F. Jones and others have shown us how to connect the language projects with specific passages in his works; evidence of his influence has been seen in the support given in scientific circles to projects like John Wilkins' Essay Towards a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language, which the Royal Society published in 1668.

‘Philosophical’ grammar in John Wilkins’s ‘Essay’

1975 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian Salmon
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Real Character ◽  
Philosophical Language ◽  
John Wilkins ◽  
Century Thought ◽  
Insight Into

Recent studies of John Wilkins, author ofAn essay towards a real character, and a philosophical language(1668) have examined aspects of his life and work which illustrate the modernity of his attitudes, both as a theologian, sympathetic to the ecumenical ideals of seventeenth-century reformers like John Amos Comenius (DeMott 1955, 1958), and as an amateur scientist enthusiastically engaged in forwarding the interests of natural philosophy in his involvement with the Royal Society. His linguistic work has, accordingly, been examined for its relevance to seventeenth-century thought and for evidence of its modernity; described by a twentieth-century scientist as “impressive” and as “a prodigious piece of work” (Andrade 1936:6, 7), theEssayhas been highly praised for its classification of reality (Vickery 1953:326, 342) and for its insight into phonetics and semantics (Linsky 1966:60). It has also, incidentally, been examined for the evidence it offers on seventeenth-century pronunciation (Dobson 1968).

scholarly journals Seventeenth-Century ‘double writing’ schemes, and a 1676 letter in the phonetic script and real character of John Wilkins

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Poole
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
Real Character ◽  
Robert Hooke ◽  
History Of ◽  
John Wilkins ◽  
First Time

Royal Society Classified Papers XVI contains a letter written in not one but two seemingly mysterious scripts. As a result, this letter has remained until now effectively illegible, and has been miscatalogued. These scripts are rare examples of the written forms devised by John Wilkins to accompany his proposals for an artificial language, published under the auspices of the Royal Society in 1668. This article therefore first correctly identifies and decodes this letter, which is shown to be from the Somersetshire clergyman Andrew Paschall to Robert Hooke in London in 1676, and then surveys other surviving texts written in Wilkins's scripts or language. Finally the article addresses the contents of the letter, namely its author's attempt to build a workable double writing device, in effect an early ‘pantograph’. Designs for such instruments had been much touted in the 1650s, and the complex history of such proposals is unravelled properly for the first time.

John Wilkins’ Essay (1668)

1974 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian Salmon
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Critical Appraisal ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Bodleian Library ◽  
Real Character ◽  
Semantic Classification ◽  
Philosophical Language ◽  
John Wilkins ◽  
The 19Th Century

Summary One of the major achievements of Britsh linguistic scholarship before the 19th century was John Wilkins’ (1609–72) Essay towards a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language (1668), which attempted to construct, for scientific purposes, a language in which the elements were isomorphic with the categories of reality (as they were perceived by Wilkins). Immediately after its publication, the Essay was presented to the scientists of the newly-founded Royal Society for their critical appraisal. Since the committee appointed to examine it never reported, it has usually been assumed that they were uninterested or disapproving. It can now be shown, however, that it was certainly not lack of enthusiasm among Wilkins’ contemporaries that led to the absence of a report, and that three members of the original committee took part in a project to revise the Essay after its author’s death. It has long been known that a small group were informally engaged on its revision in 1678, according to a report of the antiquarian John Aubrey (1626–97), F.R.S., but hitherto nothing has been known of the enterprise. Recently, their correspondence has been discovered among Aubrey’s collection of manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, and these letters, besides showing links with the original committee, illustrate the growth of linguistic insight in the would-be improvers, particularly in respect of semantic classification and various problems in the phonetics of English. The course of their discussion is traced here, and the reasons for their eventual rejection of Wilkins’ scheme. Yet the immense undertaking was never wholly forgotten; it aroused the interest of at least one eminent 18th-century scientist, and became one source of inspiration for Peter Mark Roget (1779–1869), creator of the famous Thesaurus.

An account of some books. I. Geometriæ pars Universalis, quantinum curvarum transmutationi & mensuræ inserviens, auth. Jac. Gregorio, Scoto: where are inserted some remarks, imparted by the same author in two letters written to a member of the R. Society. II. An Introduction to Algebra, translated out of High:Dutch into English by Tho. Brancker, M.A; much altered and augmented by D. J. P. III. An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language, by John Wilkins, D.D. &c. IV. Stanislai Dc

1668 ◽  
Vol 3 (35) ◽  
pp. 685-692 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Real Character ◽  
Philosophical Language ◽  
John Wilkins

An account of some books. I. Geometriæ pars Universalis, quantinum curvarum transmutationi & mensuræ inserviens, auth. Jac. Gregorio, Scoto: where are inserted some remarks, imparted by the same author in two letters written to a member of the R. Society. II. An Introduction to Algebra, translated out of High:Dutch into English by Tho. Brancker, M.A; much altered and augmented by D. J. P. III. An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language, by John Wilkins, D.D. &c. IV. Stanislai Dc Lubienietz Theatrum Cometicum, &c. Numb. 30. We gave an account of a small tract, entitul'd Quadratura circuli & Hyperbolœ in in propriasua Proportionis Specie inventa & demonstrata, a Jac. Gregorio Scoto ; and intimated that it would be reprinted here, and accordingly the Impression was begun

משנים את מידות העולם: חוג הלומדים המהפכני בקלויז ברודי ומהפכת יחידות המידה בראשית העת החדשה

AJS Review ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. כט-נג
Author(s):  
מעוז כהנא
Keyword(s):  
Real Character ◽  
Philosophical Language ◽  
John Wilkins

בשנת 1668 נדפס בלונדון ספרו של המלומד האנגלי ג׳ון וילקינס (John Wilkins, 1614–1672) :‘An Essay towards a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language’. וילקינס היה כומר אנגליקני מתון, פילוסוף נטורלי, וגם ממיסדי ה‘Royal Society of London’ – החברה המלכותית שהיתה לאבן דרך בהתפתחות המדעית של אירופה. בספרו הציג וילקינס כמה מסרים רדיקליים. אחד מהם היה יצירתה של שפת כתיבה חדשה, אוניברסלית, שתחליף את הלטינית 1672–1614 ,הישנה של הכנסיה הקתולית, ותשמש מצע קשר למלומדים ומבקשי אמת מכל העולם. מגמה דומה התבטאה במשאלה נוספת, דמיונית לא פחות המלומד האנגלי ביקש להחיל על העולם כולו יחידת מדידת אורך אחת ויחידה, שתחושב באופן רציונאלי ובסולם עשרוני. מאז התפרקות האימפריה הרומית, לכל הפחות, היתה אירופה נתונה בתוהו ובוהו של מידות אורך משקל ונפח. בתוך יחידה מדינית אחת כצרפת או אנגליה יכלו לשמש בו זמנית במקביל מאות מידות שונות. יחידות מידה (שפעמים רבות נשאו שמות זהים) נשמרו במקומות שונים בצורות שונות לגמרי. קביעת יחידות המידה היתה לכלי שרת גם בידי שליטים מקומיים – אלה, כמובן, ביקשו לסמן בעזרתן את מרחב סמכותם, וגם אלה, כידוע, רבו מספור.

The publication of John Wilkins's Essay (1668): some contextual considerations

2002 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Scientific Practice ◽  
Title Page ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
Real Character ◽  
Linguistic Communication ◽  
Founding Member ◽  
Philosophical Language ◽  
Religious Controversy ◽  
Publishing Practice

John Wilkins's Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language was published in 1668. It was an attempt to institute an artificial language based on the order of things, and was expected to contribute to improved scientific practice, to facilitate inter–linguistic communication and to ameliorate religious controversy. Wilkins was a founding member of The Royal Society, and the Essay was published under its imprimatur. The printer to The Royal Society was John Martyn, and this article traces the occasionally damaging impact Martyn had upon the publishing practice of the early Royal Society, before considering the steps Wilkins took to ensure the best possible reception for his work. Prominent amongst these was the fact that although Martyn's name appeared on the title page of the Essay , Wilkins was principally dependent on Samuel Gellibrand—another, more creditable, printer with whom he had a long–standing relationship—for its publication. Wilkins's approach to the production of a book of the Essay 's size and typographic complexity is also considered.

The intellectual origins of the Royal Society-London or Oxford?

1968 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 144-156 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Invisible College ◽  
English Revolution ◽  
Intellectual Origins ◽  
History Of ◽  
John Wilkins ◽  
Oxford Group ◽  
The Invisible

The Royal Society was founded in 1660 at Gresham College. Even in the seventeenth century divergent views arose among its founders as to its intellectual origins and the events which led up to its foundation. So it is not surprising that echoes of these divergences were heard when the Society was celebrating its Tercentenary in 1960. The main points in debate were the extent of Francis Bacon’s influence on its foundation, and the respective contributions of the related groups in London and Oxford. Miss Syfret had already successfully challenged Thomas Birch’s view that the ‘Invisible College’ mentioned by Boyle and centring round Hartlib was in any direct way linked with the foundation of the Royal Society. Professor Douglas McKie in Origins and Founders brought both the London and Oxford groups into his account, and his and Miss Syfret’s interpretations seemed to fit one another (1). However, a booklet from Oxford written by Miss (now Dr) Margery Purver and Dr E. J. Bowen claimed that John Wilkins and the Oxford group were the only begetters of the Royal Society, and rejected John Wallis’s claims for the earlier London group around Gresham College. Dr Purver has elaborated the arguments in favour of this view in a recently published book (2). The Editor of Notes and Records has now asked me to put on record my own views, since I had already discussed this aspect of the intellectual history of the period in my Intellectual Origins of the English Revolution (1965).

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