ВЕСТНИК ПЕРМСКОГО УНИВЕРСИТЕТА. ФИЛОСОФИЯ. ПСИХОЛОГИЯ. СОЦИОЛОГИЯ

VESTNIK PERMSKOGO UNIVERSITETA. SERIYA FILOSOFIA PSIKHOLOGIYA SOTSIOLOGIYA

DOI: 10.17072/2078-7898/2017-2-172-182

J. LOCKE’S «ΣΗΜΙΩΤΙϏΉ»:
HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY’S RETROSPECTIVE

Skripnik Konstantin Dmitrievich
Doctor of Philosophy, Professor,
Head of the Department of History of Philosophy

Southern Federal University
Institute of Philosophy and Cultural Studies,
105/42, B. Sadovaya str., Rostov-on-Don, 344006, Russia;
e-mail: kdskrinik@sfedu.ru
ORCID: 0000-0002-2150-1571

The aim of the article is to draw attention to prima facie unexpected occurrence of the notion of semiotics (σημιωτιϗή) in Locke’s «An Essay Concerning Human Understanding». The author demonstrates close relationships between Locke’s semiotic ideas and certain philosophical tradition of his predecessors. It is assumed that Locke might have got acquainted with this tradition while studying and tutoring at Oxford University. The author believes that the adequate method of this research is the method of retrospective historical-philosophical analysis. Semiotic ideas of Locke’s «Essay…» are successors of Smiglecki’s «Logica», especially, Smiglecki’s «ens rationis», which, in turn, is related with the Conimbricenses’ commentary on Aristotle. Moreover, it is possible to see some similarities between Locke’s view on mental propositions and Ockham’s mental language, and between Locke’s semiotic considerations and Roger Bacon’s treatise «On Signs». The article proposes arguments in favor of the philosophical tradition of sign treatises devoted to the role of sign and sign relation, which has its roots in ancient works of Plato, Theophrastus, Philodemus, Stoics and Epicureans. The given consideration provides an additional basis for the acknowledgement of philosophy’s continuous development and for the rejection of traditional «borders» between the different stages of history of philosophy.

Keywords: history of philosophy, semiotics, Locke, Smiglecki, Ockham, Roger Bacon, treatises on signs.

References

  1. Locke J. Opyt o chelovecheskom razumenii. Kn. 4. [An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Book 4]. Sochineniya v 3 t. [Collected works: in 3 vol.]. Moscow, Mysl’ Publ., 1985, vol. 2, pp. 3–201 p. (In Russian).
  2. Rorty R. (ed.) The Linguistic Turn. Essays in Philosophical Method. Chicago, Chicago Un. Pr., 1992, 407 p. (In English).
  3. Locke J. Opyt o chelovecheskom razumenii. Kn. 1–3. [An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Books 1–3]. Sochineniya v 3 t. [Collected Works: in 3 vol.]. Moscow, Mysl’ Publ., 1985, vol. 1, pp. 77–582. (In Russian).
  4. Stuart M. (ed.). A Companion to Locke. Oxford, Blackwell Publ., 2016, 569 p. (In English).
  5. Hobbes T. O tele [On the Body]. Sochineniya: v 2 t. [Collected works: in 2 vol.]. Moscow, Mysl’ Publ, 1989, vol. 1, 622 p. (In Russian).
  6. Savinov R.V. Istoriko-filosofskiy smysl ponyatiya ens rationis (mentalnoe suschee) [Historical and Philosophical Implications of the Concept «ens rationis» (Mental Entity)]. Vestnik Leningradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta im. A.S. Pushkina [Vestnik of Pushkin Leningrad State University]. 2015, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 21–29. (In Russian).
  7. Savinov R.V. Epizod iz istorii Kontrreformatsii: Martin Smigletskiy [An Episode of the Counter-Reformation History: Marcin Smiglecki]. Vestnik Russkoy khristianskoy gumanitarnoy akademii [Review of the Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities]. 2010, vol. 11, iss. 3, pp. 70–76.(In Russian).
  8. Darowski R. Marcina Śmigleckogo SJ ręnkopiśmenne wykłady z logiki [Handwritten Lectures on Logic]. Studia Philosophiae Christianae [Christian Philosophy Studies]. 1984, vol. 20(1), pp. 31–51. (In Polish).
  9. Sgarbi M. The Aristotelian Tradition and the Rise of British Empirism. Logic and Epistemology in British Isles (1570–1689). New York, Springer Publ., 2013, 259 p. (In English).
  10. Commentarii Collegii Conimbricensis Societatis Jesu in universam dialecticam Aristotelis [Commentaries of the Coimbra College of the Society of Jesus on the Whole Logic of Aristotle]. 1606.(In Latin).
  11. The Conimbricenses. Some Questions on Signs. Trans. with Introduction and Notes by John P. Doyle. Marquette Un. Pr., 2001, 230 p. (In English).
  12. Vdovina G.V. Yazyk neochevidnogo. Ucheniya o znakakh v skholastike XVII veka [The Language of the Non-Obvious. The Doctrine of Signs in the Scholastics of the XVII Century]. Moscow, Bibliotheca Ignatiana Publ., 2009, 648
  13. Meier-Oeser S. Die Spur des Zeichen. Das Zeichen und seine Funktion in der Philosophie des Mittelalters und der Fruehen Neuzeit [The Trace of the Sign. The Sign and its Function in the Philosophy of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period]. Berlin, W.deGruyter Publ., 1977, 321
  14. Krakowski E. Les sources médiévales de la philosophie de Locke [Medieval Sources of Locke’s Philosophy]. Paris, Jouve, 1915. (In French).
  15. Friedman R.L., Nielsen L.O. The Medieval Heritage in Early Modern Metaphysics and Modal Theory, 1400–1700. Dordrecht, Kluwer Ac. Publ., 2003, 346 p. (In English).
  16. William of Ockham. Izbrannoe [Selected Works]. Moscow, Editorial URSS Publ., 2002, 272 p. (In Russian).
  17. Bacon R. An Unedited Part of Roger Bacon’s Opus Maius: «De Signis». Ed. by K.M. Fredborg, L. Nielsen, J. Pinborg. Traditio. 1978, vol. 34, pp. 75–136. (In English).
  18. Bacon R. On Signs. Trans. with an introd. and notes by Tomas S. Maloney. Toronto, Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies Publ., 2013, 147 p. (In English).
    1. Ragozin L.I., Skripnik K.D. Traktat Avgustina «O dialektike» (zametki k perevodu) [Augustine’s Treatise «On Dialectics» (Notes to the Translation)]. Vestnik Russkoy khristianskoy gumanitarnoy akademii [Review of the Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities], 2016, vol. 17, iss. 3, pp. 62–67. (In Russian).
    2. Skripnik K.D. Semioticheskie idei v istorii antichnoy filosofii [Semiotic Ideas in the History of Ancient Philosophy]. Vestnik Severnogo (Arkticheskogo) federalnogo universiteta. Seriya: Gumanitarnye i sotsialnye nauki [Vestnik of Northern (Arctic) Federal University. Series «Humanitarian and Social Sciences»], 2016, no. 3, pp. 82–90. (In Russian).
    3. Costadau A. Traite historique et critique des principaux signes qui servent a Manifester les Pensees, Ou le Commerce des Esprits [Historical and Critical Treatise of the Main Signs…]. Lyon, Bruyset, 1720–1721. (In French).

The date of the manuscript receipt 10.01.2017

Please cite this article in English as:

Skripnik K.D.J. Locke’s «Σημιωτιϗή»: history of philosophy’s retrospective // Perm University Herald. Series «Philosophy. Psychology. Sociology». 2017. Iss. 2. P.172182. DOI: 10.17072/2078-7898/2017-2-172-182