-
Philology as Philosophy: Giovanni Pontano on Language, Meaning, and Grammar
- Journal of the History of Ideas
- University of Pennsylvania Press
- Volume 72, Number 4, October 2011
- pp. 481-502
- 10.1353/jhi.2011.0026
- Article
- Additional Information
- Purchase/rental options available:
This article studies the views on language of an important yet understudied humanist, Giovanni Pontano (1429–1503). Attention is paid to his ideas on the origins of language; the emotive and active functions of language; the intrinsic connection between language and sociability; and his grammatical work. When compared to developments in the Enlightenment his views turn out to be philosophically interesting and relevant. As such this article underscores a still undervalued point that, even though humanists were perhaps not philosophers, philosophical assumptions and convictions did drive their textual-philological studies, having important implications for their wider views on history and culture.