Can There Be Common Knowledge Without a Common Language
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3850338 |
|---|---|
| Authors | A Wierzbicka (0000-0002-6074-7865, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 141-171 |
| Publication date | 2015-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Common Knowledge (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0961-754X • E-ISSN: 1538-4578 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/0961754x-2818482 |
| OpenAlex | W2019143594 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 10 |
This essay argues that, since Kant wrote in German and since German has no word for "right" corresponding in meaning to the English word, it is a case of conceptual anglocentrism to say, as many anglophone philosophers do, that Kant reformulated the foundations of ethics by formulating them in terms of the "right" rather than the "good." Further, the essay shows how the German word Pflicht, central to Kant's ethics, does not correspond in meaning to the English word duty, whose cultural roots lie in English Puritanism. More generally, the argument is that, ultimately, "common knowledge" is possible only to the extent to which it can be stated in words corresponding to universal human concepts - a set of which has been identified through empirical cross-linguistic investigations - rather than in words whose meanings have been shaped by a particular history and culture. Finally, the essay shows how "NSM" methodology, developed within linguistic semantics, allows us to cast new light on aspects of German culture reflected in keywords such as Ordnung, Gehorsam, Befehl, and Pflicht - terms that appear to be anchored in the legacy of Luther and Kant
Duty · Epistemology · German · Linguistics · Sociology · Theology · Computer Science · Emotions and Moral Behavior · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · Linguistic research and analysis · Philosophy
Semantics of Natural Language
What Emotions Really Are
The Morals of Modernity
German `Cultural Scripts
Methodological reflections on current linguistic theory
The Odd Couple
A Kant dictionary
Semantics
Unnatural Emotions
Empirical Universals of Language as a Basis for the Study of Other Human Universals and as a Tool for Exploring Cross-Cultural Differences
| Citations per year | 0.27 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2015 - 2017 (3) |
| Highly cited | No |