Jaap Maat

A New Field: History of Humanities

hese are exciting times for the humanities. The impressive corpus of knowledge that the humanities have discovered, created, and cultivated over many centuries is available for the benefit of more people than ever and evolving rapidly. Fresh perspectives open up as digital tools enable researchers to explore questions that not long ago were beyond their reach and even their imagination. Novel fields of research deal with phenomena emerging in a globalizing culture, enabling us to make sense of the way in which new media affect our lives. Cross-fertilization between disciplines leads to newly developed methods and results, such as the complex chemical analysis of the materials of ancient artworks, yielding data that were unavailable to both artists and their publics at the time of production, or neuroscientific experiments shedding new light on our capacity for producing and appreciating music. At the same time, there is a sense of gloom, perhaps even crisis, among those who are convinced that the humanities are valuable, precious, indispensable. The number of students taking humanities courses declines, and humanities departments at universities worldwide are subject to severe budget cuts or abolition altogether. In a period in which the academic world is plagued by governments insisting on measurable results for the sake of short-term financial profit, the humanities seem most vulnerable. We present the first issue of History of Humanities with feelings of anticipation. Our journal is meant to stand for the fact that scholarly practices of a type today labeled “humanities” have been an essential part of the process of knowledge making ever since human inquisitiveness sought to enhance our understanding of the world and ourselves. This long history has been studied in fruitful and illuminating ways, but the focus has been on either the natural sciences or on single disciplines within the humanities, such as history writing and linguistics. The fundamental contribution of the humanities to the intricate web of knowledge that scholars, thinkers, and researchers have spun in the course of several millennia has thus been poorly recog-

Universal Language Schemes in the 17th Century

Universal language schemes in the 17th century developed through a number of stages, originating in shorthand and ‘real character’ systems and culminating in elaborate philosophical languages. They were the product of a varied set of motivations and objectives, and must be investigated in their larger historical context. They were a pan-European phenomenon but were pursued as a practicable objective, notably in Britain. Such schemes were a preoccupation of some of the leading scholars of the period, and served as a focus for speculation about the nature of language in general, language diversity, and language change.

The Making of the Humanities, Volume III. The Modern Humanities

This comprehensive history of the humanities focuses on the modern period (1850-2000). The contributors, including Floris Cohen, Lorraine Daston and Ingrid Rowland, survey the rise of the humanities in interaction with the natural and social sciences, offering new perspectives on the interaction between disciplines in Europe and Asia and new insights generated by digital humanities.

Dalgarno and Leibniz on the particles

Abstract This article discusses the treatment of linguistic particles in various contexts by seventeenth-century philosophers, linguists and logicians. Starting out with a discussion of the logical tradition which formed the background to many of these treatments, the article then focuses on the approach to the subject taken by George Dalgarno, author of the first artificial language published in the seventeenth century, and on Leibnizs study of particles in the context of his grand rational grammar project. The article argues that in spite of a shared background, Dalgarnos and Leibnizs work in this area was informed by widely different aims.

Habermas, Jurgen (b. 1929)

Jurgen Habermas is one of the foremost social theorists and political philosophers of postwar Germany. He was born in Dusseldorf in 1929, studied philosophy in Gottingen, Zurich, and Bonn, where he got his Ph.D. in 1954. He was assistant to Adorno in the 1950s and held professorships in Heidelberg and Frankfurt. He was also co-director of the Max Planck Institute at Starnberg. His concern with language is most prominent in his theory of communicative action, in which he used speech act theory as a central element of a wide-ranging social theory.

Hintikka, Jaakko (b. 1929)

Jaakko Hintikka (b. 1929) is a leading logician and philosopher. He has held professorial appointments at the University of Helsinki, Stanford University, Florida State University, and Boston University, where he still teaches. Hintikka has made major accomplishments in possible-worlds semantics, modal logic, linguistics, the history of philosophy, and the philosophy of science, logic, and mathematics. A central element of his work is the development of Game-Theoretical Semantics. He has written influentially on the theory of questions and answers, and on the methodology of linguistics, and continues to add to his vast output on a range of topics.

Geach, Peter Thomas (b.1916)

Peter Geach was Lecturer in Logic at Birmingham University from 1951 to 1966 and Professor of Logic at Leeds University from 1966 to 1981. He has written influentially on the history and philosophy of logic. His application of logical techniques to the analysis of ordinary language has stimulated research in formal semantics of natural languages. He has also contributed to the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of religion, and ethics.

Dummett, Michael Anthony Eardley (b. 1925)

Michael Dummett is a key contemporary philosopher. He has worked in Oxford throughout his career. A prolific writer from the 1950s onward, he continues to publish. His contributions to linguistic theory are connected with three interrelated themes. First, he is a leading commentator on the work of Gottlob Frege. Second, he argued that logical analysis of linguistic practice may serve to resolve philosophical debates. Third, he devoted much effort to determining what is required for a correct theory of meaning. Besides his work on philosophy, Dummett has written extensively on political issues, and on card games.

Wilkins: The Art of Things

The publication of an impressive volume by John Wilkins appearing in 1668 has been widely regarded as marking the culmination of the seventeenth-century universal language movement, and this is understandable on the basis of its mere outward appearance (figure 4.1 reproduces the title page). The book, entitled An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language, was printed under the auspices of the Royal Society. Running to more than 600 folio pages, it clearly surpassed everything that had been published on the subject thus far, with respect to both size and prestige. In university circles, it had been known for several years that the appearance of the book was imminent. Wilkins had finished his work in 1666, and printing was almost done, when a large part of the manuscript and most of the printed sheets were destroyed in the Great Fire of London. It took Wilkins a year and a half1 to recover the loss.

Dalgarno: The Art of Signs

On the title page of a tract called Ars Signorum appearing in 1661, its author, the Scot George Dalgarno, announces that he has accomplished something rather sensational (see figure 3.1). Offering a description of what he calls ‘a universal character and a philosophical language’, he asserts that by its means “speakers of the most diverse languages will in the space of two weeks be able to communicate to each other all their thoughts (in everyday matters), either in writing or in speech, no less intelligibly than in their own mother tongues1”. This invention is not only claimed to be a highly effective and easy-to-learn means of communication, but also to provide an excellent introduction to philosophy and logic: “by this means also the young will be able to imbibe the principles of philosophy and the true practice of logic far more quickly and easily than from the common writings of philosophers”. Thus Dalgarno claims to have achieved at least three widely different goals all at once in constructing a language which is suited for universal communication, is capable of being learned quickly, and furnishes a means for enhancing knowledge and logical skills.