Many consider language as the foundational distinction between man and animal. Language is the driving force of thought and our ability to communicate with fellow human beings enables us to dream, to aspire, to excel; animals can do no such things. Animals can also communicate but only man communicates through a mechanism that is arbitrary. Language is arbitrary, in that it is the mechanism of communication which the sounds and words do not resemble what they were meant to describe. This distinctive figurative characteristic of human language coupled with the commonly held belief that language separates man from beast are sufficient reasons for us to explore the origin of languages and how language represents reality to us and whether or not it transforms reality for us. .
Language deflects, selects, and reflects reality to us through figurative language and proper language. Does either figurative or proper language more accurately represent reality? Did they both arise at the same time or does one have to precede the other? Figurative language arose first. Rousseau, in his Essay on the Origin of Languages, deals with the problem of figurative language and proper language. He claims "that the first language had to be figurative"(pg 12) and the explanation he cites as support for his claim is his previous claim that language emerged out of passions. Rousseau argues that because language grew out of passion, the first words uttered must have been triggered by a passion. He writes "as man's first motives for speaking were of the passions, his first expressions were tropes."(pg 12).
Passion and feeling, for Rousseau, preceded reason and thought. "One does not begin by reasoning, but by feeling."(pg 11) Proper language belongs to reasoning and figurative language belongs to feeling. The first expressions used by humans came from passion, from feeling, exclusive of any reasoning and thus language must be figurative before it is proper.
Man's first language was the cry of nature. ... Such dealings did not require a refined language. ... Various natural catastrophes made language increasingly necessary. ... This was the origin of society. ... In conclusion, there are many things that contributed to the overall origin of human inequality. ...
Rousseau I have endeavoured to trace the origins and progress of inequality, and the institution and abuse of political societies, as far as these are capable of being deduced from the nature of man merely by the light of reason, and independently of those sacred dogmas which give the sanction of divine right to sovereign authority. ... This quote is essentially a concise summation of the various concepts, which Jean Jacques Rousseau discusses in Discourse on the Origin and the Foundations of Inequality among men. ... That of pity and self-preservation, furthermore he believed the only quali...
French revolutionary Jean-Jacques Rousseau introduced this idea of natural rights and inspired other countries to evaluate the nature of man and origins of inequality1. American revolutionaries saw the freedom of language as a natural right, and how property can be claimed and then others can acknowledge that ownership as an aid in equality/inequality. ... Rousseau argued that man and government were both good in nature, but were corrupted and made cruel by institutions, and that there would be no liberty without a good government protecting it. ...
For decades, large numbers of individuals have been prompted to move to the United States due to threatening or emergency circumstances in their countries of origin. ... The Refugee Act of 1980 defines a refugee as a person who cannot return home because of a "well-founded fear of persecution on the basis of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion" who is not able to seek or receive protection from their country of origin (www.unhcr.org 2014). ... Primary care institutions, including clinics, schools, and community organizations, bec...
Two hundred and twenty years on, the origins of this unique event are inconclusive. ... However, Cobban and even Simon Schama provide such a valuable interpretation on the limitations of the Marxist view that they fail to offer an alternative yet coherent explanation of the origins of the Revolution itself. ... Conversely, post revisionist interpretations focus more closely on culture and language, shifting away from the socio economic factors which provide the basis for the Marxist outlook which they so heavily critique.12 This approach includes notable historians like Furet asserting that th...
The nation can be considered one of the most central principal to political organization as it can be defined in terms of common origin, ethnicity, and cultural ties. The basis for identity can be broad and made up of a combination of factors like language, traditions, beliefs, ethnicity, and history. ... Liberal nationalism is the oldest form of nationalism, dating back to the French Revolution, was shaped by Rousseau's ideas on popular sovereignty. ... This idea recognizes the freedom of all nations to preserve distinct identity of culture and languages and also makes individuals feel l...
Whatever the origin of Caliban's name, it relates to something foul, wild, dirty and uncivilized. ... However, this view began to change toward the end of the eighteenth century, when the American and French revolutions' rhetoric emphasized the rights of individual man, when Rousseau began to speculate man's natural nobility in an uncivilized state and the romantic poets began to show appreciation of poetic imagination attuned to the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings". ... Critics argued that Caliban's language displayed poetical awareness of nature's beauties...
Whatever the origin of Caliban's name, it relates to something foul, wild, dirty and uncivilized. ... However, this view began to change toward the end of the eighteenth century, when the American and French revolutions' rhetoric emphasized the rights of individual man, when Rousseau began to speculate man's natural nobility in an uncivilized state and the romantic poets began to show appreciation of poetic imagination attuned to the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings". ... Critics argued that Caliban's language displayed poetical awareness of nature's beauties...
Modern human rights discourse and language, as well as its implementation and applicability within international law was borne out of the 'Western' response to the atrocity and trauma experienced within humanity not only by the Nazi and other Fascist, totalitarian regimes during World War II but within the wider 'West' too. ... Competing religious traditions would not have been able to agree on language to describe human rights from a common existence under 'God', and communist delegations would have outright vetoed such a reference. ... Robertson and Merrils (...
