This is the first book to trace systematically the philosophical origins and development of the idea that the improvement of human understanding requires public activity, through discussion of the work of Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Spinoza, and Leibniz. Challenging the traditional views of 17th century philosophy and written in lucid, nontechnical language, it will be sought by historians of philosophy and students of the history of ideas.

This classic study of human language was first published in 1836, as a general introduction to Humboldt's treatise on the Kawi language of Java. It is the final statement of his lifelong study of language, exploring its universal structures and its relation to mind and culture. It remains one of the most interesting and important attempts to draw philosophical conclusions from comparative linguistics. This volume presents a modern translation by Peter Heath together with a new introduction by Michael Losonsky that places Humboldt's work in its historical and philosophical context.

This classic study of human language was first published in 1836, as a general introduction to Humboldt's treatise on the Kawi language of Java. It is the final statement of his lifelong study of language, exploring its universal structures and its relation to mind and culture. It remains one of the most interesting and important attempts to draw philosophical conclusions from comparative linguistics. This volume presents a modern translation by Peter Heath together with a new introduction by Michael Losonsky that places Humboldt's work in its historical and philosophical context.

This flexible textbook is both an introduction and a reader in metaphysics combining original discussion with selections from primary sources.

This book traces the linguistic turns in the history of modern philosophy and the development of the philosophy of language from Locke to Wittgenstein. It examines the contributions of canonical figures such as Leibniz, Mill, Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, Austin, Quine, and Davidson, as well as those of Condillac, Humboldt, Chomsky, and Derrida. Michael Losonsky argues that the philosophy of language begins with Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding and demonstrates how the history of the philosophy of language in the modern period is marked by a split between formal and pragmatic...