Logic, Language, Philosophy of, Linguistics & Semiotics - General & Miscellaneous

Language, Thought, and Logic

Name: Language, Thought, and Logic
Author: Ellis.
ISBN: 9780810110953

by Ellis.

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Overview

John M. Ellis's Against Deconstruction was hailed as the definitive critique of that complex movement. Now in Language, Thought and Logic Ellis surmounts the impasse and confusion in theory of language to develop a new and strikingly original view. In a field "which seems to tempt everyone to begin again conceptually at the beginning," Ellis observes, many of the initial assumptions made by people who talk and theorize about language are logical mistakes virtually impossible to recover from once made. From this reorientation, Ellis argues that categorization, not syntax, is the most fundamental aspect and process of language, and that neither anything else in language nor, indeed, its purposes can be properly understood until the nature of categorization has been grasped. In the same spirit, he analyzes the notion of grammar and the place of language in human thought. He examines some traditional problems of philosophy in an attempt to show both how they result from an inadequate theory of language and how the view of language developed here leads to a solution of these problems and thus to a redirection of inquiry in the field, and suggests that the process of inquiry in the discipline of linguistics has been fundamentally misdirected because of the logical errors discussed. Supporting these incisive arguments with lucid criticisms of Chomsky and demonstrations of common misreadings of Saussure and Whorf, Ellis establishes a new general picture of linguistic theory and suggests the major implications of that picture. Powerful, rigorous, and innovative, Language, Thought, and Logic makes an important contribution to the understanding of contemporary linguistics.

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Editorials

Library Journal

Using theories by Peirce, Saussure, Wittgenstein, and Whorf, Ellis explains the philosophy of language and shows where he believes previous thinkers have gone wrong. He gives some idea of the future of linguistics and what he sees as directions for possible work in the field. For Ellis (German, Univ. of California at Santa Cruz), the concept of categorization is the most important aspect of the study of language. He criticizes Chomsky, Piaget, and Ayer for not understanding the basic nature of thought. Ellis's critique of the MIT school of linguistics is especially rigorous. He also discusses the relationship of factual statements and value judgments in questions of ethics and value aesthetics and touches upon grammar and epistemological questions. If this book is any indication of what the new series, ``Rethinking Theory,'' will produce in the future, every volume will be eagerly awaited. Recommended for large philosophy and linguistics collections.-- Gene Shaw, NYPL

Booknews

Furthering the ideas in his Against Deconstructionism (1989), Ellis (German literature, U. of California, Santa Cruz) seeks to break the current logjam in linguistic theory by arguing that categorization, not syntax, in the most important element. He also shows how thinking otherwise leads to the confusion about some basic philosophical problems. No index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)