“Unity of Language and Thought” in the Editorial of Issue 19 of the Quarterly of History of Philosophy
22.04.2015
The 19th issue of the
scientific-research Quarterly of History of Philosophy
(Winter 2014) will be published in the near future. This
issue contains the following papers:
A
Comprehensive Critical-Comparative Analysis of Tusi’s
Works on Ethics, Fereshteh Abolhassani Niaraki
Happiness in the Views of Aristotle and Ibn Miskawayh
Razi, Ali Mohammad Sajedi and Hajar Darayi Tabar
Farabi
and his Distinction between Existence and Quiddity,
Ghasem Pourhasan
A
Comparison of two Types of Autonomous and
Revelation-Based Rationalism in Abu Hatam Razi and
Muhammad Ibn Zakariyya Razi’s Debate, Ahad Faramarz
Qaramaleki and ‘Abas Ali Mansory
A
Critical Evaluation of Hegel’s Reading of the Origin of
Heraclitus’ Doctrines, Dariush Darvishy
A
Comparison of Farabi’s Logico-Linguistic Theories with
the Principles and Theories of Contemporary Linguistics,
Mahmoud Reza Moradian and Ali Nuri Khatunbani
Understanding of Truth in Pre-Socratic Philosophers,
Sa‘id Shapouri
We read in the Editorial of this
issue as follows:
Determining and identifying a
specific language or register for each science is an
undeniable necessity. This particular language is not
limited to the technical words and expressions used in
each field and, rather, enjoys a specific structure and
spirit. This is the case while there are some close
relationships between some sciences in terms of their
principles and content.
One of the basic issues discussed
in the philosophy of science is the same “language of
science”. Although this idea was not much distinctive in
early philosophers’ classification of sciences and
identifying their conditions and fundamental principles,
when they paid attention to some principles such as
single elements, methods, and definitions, they
inevitably attended to the role of “language of science”
and considered it to be useful in limiting and
separating sciences from each other. Some treatises such
as al-Hudud by Ibn Sina, al-Huruf by Farabi, Kobra fi
al-mantiq by Mir Seyyed Sharif and many others basically
emphasize the category of language.
The language of philosophy and
philosophers mainly entails arguments. In the five-fold
figures, argument is distinguished from dialectics,
sophistry, poetry, and sermon. If we pay attention to
this distinction, the conditions and preliminary
principles of philosophy and its specific register will
become quite clear to us. In the view of the First
Teacher, argument in this sense is distinct from all
other concepts since it enjoys a language depending on
reality. Although all sciences mirror the reality, it
seems that philosophy has a greater share in this
regard. The language of argument, which is the language
of philosophy, makes it different from the language of
other sciences, particularly, from the ordinary
language. If people have developed the idea that
philosophers intend to employ ambiguous, complicated,
and general terms, it is because of the nature of the
language of philosophy and philosophical thoughts.
Otherwise, no philosopher wishes to use a difficult and
mysterious language.
Nevertheless, if we believe in the
connection between language and thinking and view
language as the mirror of mind, then we will not
consider the nature and spirit of the language of
philosophy to be artificial and formal; neither will we
accuse philosophers of using a bombastic and complex
style of speech. If today there is some talk of
simplifying the language of philosophy, and even if it
is tried to bring it closer to ordinary language, we
must also think about the consequences of this
simplification, particularly in comparison to the
accepted principles regarding the development of
science. Moreover, we should compare the two classic and
modern traditions of the language of philosophy. It is
hoped that those who work in the field of philosophy pay
attention to this important point and, particularly,
contribute to developing an appropriate language to be
used in contemporary philosophical dialog.
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