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Leibniz's Adamic Language of Thought
- Journal of the History of Philosophy
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 30, Number 4, October 1992
- pp. 523-643
- 10.1353/hph.1992.0071
- Article
- Additional Information
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Leibniz's Adamic Language of Thought MICHAEL LOSONSKY IN LOCKE AND LEIBNIZ, as was noted by Hans Aarsleff over twenty-five years ago, we find "separate allegiances to existing doctrines concerning the nature of language."' Leibniz was committed to Adamicism, while Locke was not. I think that this characterization of seventeenth-century philosophy of language is accurate, and I want to defend and develop this view with respect to Leibniz by examining his theory of mind and meaning.* Leibniz preserves crucial aspects of Adamicism not only in his theory of language, but in his philosophy of mind as well.s I will argue that in Leibniz the Adamic language of nature emerges fully preserved as a language of thought.4 1. ON ADAMICISM Adamicism is associated with the view that there is a language of nature, or what Jacob Boehme called a Natursprache,5 namely, an innate, universal, natu- ' Aarsleff, From Locke to Saussure (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1982), 58; also 42 and 24-27 . 9I assume that seventeenth-century theories of signification were theories of meaning. I defend this assumption in "Locke on Meaning and Signification," presented at the Clarendon Locke Conference, Christ Church, Oxford, September 5-7, 1991sFor good accounts of the Adamic aspects of Leibniz's theory of language see Aarsleff, From Locketo Saussure; Allison Coudert, "Some Theories of Natural Language from the Renaissance to the Seventeenth Century," Studia Leibnitiana. Sonderheft 7 0978): 1o6-14; Jean-Francois Courtine , "Leibnizet la Langue Adamic," Revue des Sciencesphilosophiqueset th~ologiques64 098o): 3739x ; and D. P. Walker, "Leibniz and Language,"Journa/of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 35 0972): 294-3o7 . Also see Louis Couturat, La/og/que de Leibniz d'aprks documents i~dits (Paris: J. Vrin, 19ol), 7741 use "language of thought" in the sense introduced byJerry Fodor, The Language of Thought (New York: Crowell, x975) and developed in Psychosemantics(Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1988). 5Joseph Stoudt's Sunrise to Eternity (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1957) is still the most useful critical introduction in English to Boehme's doctrines. Other important discussions are Paul Hankamer, Jakob Boehme: Gestalt und Gestaltung (Hildesheim: Olms, 196o; first published in Bonn, 1924), 214-32; and Alexandre Koyr6, La philosophicdeJacob Boehme(New 524 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY 30:4 OCTOBER 1992 ral, nonarbitrary, accurate, comprehensive, and dynamic, that is, causally powerful , language. Adamicism is also associated with this set of beliefs: that the Genesis account of Adam's naming of the beasts is true, that Adam's language was the first language from which all other languages developed, that Adam's language is the language of nature, and that Adam had the privilege not shared by other humans of having access to the language of nature. 6 Some paradigm seventeenth-century Adamicists were committed to this set of beliefs . For example, Francis Mercury van Helmont was primarily concerned with ancient Hebrew, which he took to be the language of Adam and nature.7 Others, however, were more concerned with the language of nature than with the language of Adam and the origins of language. Boehme is a good example . In his first work Morgenr6te im Aufgang (161~) he does identify the language of nature with Adam's language, which is the root of all other languages , s but this language is not characterized in terms of Adam or the first language. Boehme characterizes it as a language whose sounds express the essential nature of objects, and these sounds are natural expressions of these essential qualities (Au 19:76-77/Ur I, 2o8). In Boehme's later work De Signatura Rerum (1622), the Natursprache is characterized without mentioning Adam or the origins of languages. The language of nature is characterized as follows. All objects have an inner essence or form and an outer sensible form, especially their characteristic sounds that express their essences.9 This outer sensible form "is the language York: Burt Franklin, 1968; first published in Paris, 1929), 457-62. Influential essays on Boehme's language of nature are E. Benz, "Zur metaphysischen Begrfindung der Sprache bei J. Boehme," Euphorion 37 (t 936): 34~ 54, and "Die sch6pferische Bedeutung des Wortes bei Jacob Boehme," Mensch und Wort. EranosJahrbuch 197o...