A matter of consequenz
Humboldt, race and the genius of the Chinese Language
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3955358 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John E Joseph (0000-0002-7780-8265, University of Edinburgh, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1999 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 1-2 |
| Pages | 89-148 |
| Publication date | 1999-09-10 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Historiographia Linguistica (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0302-5160 • E-ISSN: 1569-9781 |
| Publisher | John Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1075/hl.26.1-2.06jos |
| OpenAlex | W2068358928 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 12 |
Accusations of 'racialism' against Wilhelm von Humboldt's (1767-1835) theory of language have been based in large measure on remarks in Humboldt (1836) concerning the inferiority of Chinese as an organ of thought. His other comments asserting its excellence are either marginalised or used to suggest that his account of the language is incoherent and irrational. However, when read in the context of the work in which they were originally formulated, Humboldt's 1826 letter to the Sinologist J.-P. Abel-Rémusat (1788-1832), their coherence becomes apparent. Reacting to a polarisation between Sinologists and Sanskritists in the Société Asiatique of Paris, he rises to the challenge put to him by Rémusat to solve the paradox of how, if synthetic, inflecting languages are to be credited with the development of higher thought, Chinese, the ultimate analytic language, could have produced one of the world's great civilisations. Humboldt conducts his enquiry in the classical form of a thesis, largely corresponding to Rémusat's views of the superiority of Chinese; an antithesis, corresponding in part to the strong view of the inferiority of Chinese put forward by Rémusat's student Eugène Burnouf (1801-1852); and a synthesis, which locates the excellence of Chinese in the realm of ideas and that of the inflecting languages in the realm of thought, then explains how it is that Chinese acquired a structural defect and subsequently turned it into an advantage
Antithesis · Coherence (philosophical gambling strategy · Context (archaeology · Epistemology · Excellence · Realm · Sociology · Historical Architecture and Urbanism · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · History · History, Culture, and Diplomacy · Mathematics · Philosophy
Chajim H. Steinthal
Le déchiffrement de l'énigme
Language, Figure, Landscape in Chinese Thought
Mother tongue" or "broken Arabic
Wilhelm von Humboldt and the 'Orient
Language and 'psychological race
Le déchiffrement de l'énigme
All Languages Are Equally Complex
Dr. Esperanto, or Anthropology as Alternative Worlds
Philologie et racisme
| Unique citing works | 10 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,38 |
| Citation span | 2000 - 2025 (26) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |