The Semiology of Port-Royal
Biard, Joël
The Semiology of Port-Royal - 2015.
33
This paper examines the Port Royal Logic, in comparison with medieval theories of the sign and of language. It takes up the famous chapters dedicated to signs, so as to clarify how the notions of signification and representation intersect with each other. The Port Royal Logic recuses the theory of mental language which dominated the Late Middle Ages in favour of the expressive force of the mind. The mind subordinates language to itself, in a procedure whereby language must continuously be adapted to the idea. The article demonstrates how, in this conception of the relations between thought and language, there is a strong presence of Augustinian themata which goes well beyond the standard definition of the sign. Neither a Cartesian linguistics nor a simple Cartesian theory of judgement, the philosophy of language of Port Royal is based on a real “semiological Augustinism.”
The Semiology of Port-Royal - 2015.
33
This paper examines the Port Royal Logic, in comparison with medieval theories of the sign and of language. It takes up the famous chapters dedicated to signs, so as to clarify how the notions of signification and representation intersect with each other. The Port Royal Logic recuses the theory of mental language which dominated the Late Middle Ages in favour of the expressive force of the mind. The mind subordinates language to itself, in a procedure whereby language must continuously be adapted to the idea. The article demonstrates how, in this conception of the relations between thought and language, there is a strong presence of Augustinian themata which goes well beyond the standard definition of the sign. Neither a Cartesian linguistics nor a simple Cartesian theory of judgement, the philosophy of language of Port Royal is based on a real “semiological Augustinism.”
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