Language, Mind, and Nature: Artificial Languages in England from Bacon to Locke (review)

In November 1672, John Wilkins died with his life's work, the development of a universal, artificial language, unfinished and, ultimately, unfinishable. Wilkins's An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language lies at the center of Rhodri Lewis's work on the artificial language plan movement (ALPM) in seventeenth-century England. Lewis's stated goal is to provide "a more accurate interpretation of its [the ALPM's] historical significance" (4). He carefully reconstructs the development of the ALPM, creating a fluid narrative with exquisitely detailed documentation, arguing for a more nuanced and relevant understanding of the artificial language planning movement.

The beginnings of the ALPM can be attributed to Francis Bacon, who held the belief that there is "a true pattern of the world as we actually find it" (7) and that one of the main obstacles to attaining this true knowledge was the "corruptions of extant languages" (20). What Bacon wanted was a language that consisted of "real characters," words that could signify the thing and nature directly, a universal language, one that would "accurately represent the natural way in which the mind perceived the world" (20).

As interest in the project of a universal language grew, tensions arose regarding its purpose. An inadequate account of the tension would pit the theological side, with the goal to recover the Adamic language, against a scientific perspective, with the goal that a universal language was to be developed. Lewis demonstrates the inadequacy of the above account by providing a detailed reconstruction of the various players, their backgrounds and agendas, the collaborations and falling-outs, the political maneuvering, and public battles. Lewis takes the reader through a fascinating journey of the interests and works of such seventeenth-century intellectuals as Hartlib, Comenius, Lodwick, Dalgarno, John Aubrey, John Webster, Seth Ward, and finally, Wilkins. The shared assumption uniting this diverse cast is that there is one way the world is and all men know about it in the same way; it is only our different languages that keep us from knowing we are in agreement and thus sharing knowledge and making scientific advances. An artificial language would solve this problem. It was amidst such hopes that the ALPM came to be under the auspices of the Royal Society.

After Lewis has shown the historical progression of the ALPM from Bacon to its adoption by the Royal Society, but before discussing the work of the primary ALPM scholar, Wilkins, Lewis takes the reader on a brief detour to discuss the influence of the occult in the development of artificial languages. While questions such as "What language did God use in his communication with Adam?" and "What language did Adam use when naming all the animals?" capture the imagination, Lewis makes a good case that they were not really the concern of the ALPM.

The centerpiece of Lewis's book is the fifth chapter, entitled "The Essay: Wilkins's 'darling,'" the culmination of all the threads that place Wilkins and his work at the specific place in history, surrounded by the swirls of competing views and supported by the work that had come before him, that produced An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language: "Wilkins claimed that once the establishment of a real character had ensured the correlation between language, mind, and nature, it would be possible to make these characters effable, giving rise to a philosophical language" (158).

Lewis provides a lengthy, technical exposition of how Wilkins intended this language to work. Of equal importance to Wilkins was his own understanding of how the work fell short of its goals and the ways in which he hoped it could be fixed. After a promising release, where the Essay was well received, widely read, and given the stamp of approval by the Royal Society, problems became apparent. Again, Lewis masters a dizzying array of historical facts, detailing the diligent...