The study of 18th-century theories on the origin of language offers interesting insights into history of linguistics. These theories are intimately linked with 17th-century inquiries into the social and intellectual nature of man, and particularly with the views of Hobbes, Locke, and the Cartesians. 18th-century thinkers analyse these problems from a genetic viewpoint. Condillac in his Essai sur Vorigine des connoissances humaines (1746) tries to solve them by advancing a theory of the progress of the operations of the mind, a theory in which a central role is attributed to language. This theory has recently attracted the attention of historians of linguistics, since it is considered the main source of an international debate on the origin of language culminating in Herder. It can be shown, however, that a large number of Condillac’s ideas were anticipated in Bernard Mandeville’s Fable of the Bees (1729). The present study suggests that Condillac was very likely familiar with the theses of the Fable and that he made use of them in his Essai. This suggestion is supported by an anlysis of the arguments and of certain fundamental concepts common to both works and by an account of the influence of Mandeville’s theses in France during the first decades of the 18th century. But, as Condillac mentions neither Mandeville nor his Fable, his indebtedness to his precursor cannot be proved once for all. Nevertheless, the evidence presented makes it very plausible that Condillac profited from the original and innovative ideas of Mandeville.
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Cited by (10)
Cited by ten other publications
Droś, Agnieszka
2022. Geneza społeczeństwa w myśli Bernarda Mandeville’a. Filozoficzne Aspekty Genezy► pp. 135 ff.
López Lloret, Jorge
2022. El Mercado en el Ágora: La Retórica Deliberativa en Adam Smith. Anales del Seminario de Historia de la Filosofía 39:1 ► pp. 119 ff.
Knud Haakonssen
2000. The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Philosophy,
Knud Haakonssen
2006. The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Philosophy,
Hewes, Gordon
1992. History of Glottogonic Theories. In Language Origin: A Multidisciplinary Approach, ► pp. 3 ff.
1985. The origin of language: A scientific approach to the study of man. Topoi 4:2 ► pp. 181 ff.
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