August Schleicher and Materialism in 19th-Century Linguistics

James McElvenny
University of Edinburgh
Summary

Towards the end of his career, August Schleicher (1821–1868), the great consolidator of Indo-European historical-comparative linguistics in the mid-19th century, famously drew explicit parallels between linguistics and the new evolutionary theory of Darwinism. Based on this, it has become customary in linguistic historiography to refer to Schleicher’s ‘Darwinian’ theory of language, even though it has long been established that Schleicher’s views have other origins that pre-date his contact with Darwinism. For his contemporary critics in Germany, however, Schleicher’s thinking was an example not of Darwinism but of ‘materialism’. This article examines what ‘materialism’ meant in 19th-century Germany – its philosophical as well as its political dimensions – and looks at why Schleicher’s critics applied this label to him. It analyses the relevant aspects of Schleicher’s linguistics and philosophy of science and the criticisms directed against them by H. Steinthal (1823–1899). It then discusses the contemporary movement of scientific materialism and shows how Schleicher’s political views, social background and personal experiences bound him to this movement.

Table of contents

August Schleicher (1821–1868) is a curious figure in the history of linguistics. From his own time to the present day he has enjoyed universal recognition for his technical innovations, which consolidated the field of Indo-European historical-comparative grammar. The reactions to his philosophical pronouncements on the nature of language, on the other hand, have generally ranged from simple rejection to outright ridicule. The peak of Schleicher’s metaphysical excesses would have to be his claim that human languages are “natural organisms” that “came into being, grew and developed according to fixed laws and which in turn will age and die off” (Schleicher 1863: 7 [all translations are my own: JMc]).

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