The Writing of Spirit

Soul, System, and the Roots of Language Science

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Theory, Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Science, Other Sciences, Philosophy & Social Aspects, Reference & Language, Language Arts, Linguistics
Cover of the book The Writing of Spirit by Sarah M. Pourciau, Fordham University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Sarah M. Pourciau ISBN: 9780823275649
Publisher: Fordham University Press Publication: May 1, 2017
Imprint: Modern Language Initiative Language: English
Author: Sarah M. Pourciau
ISBN: 9780823275649
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Publication: May 1, 2017
Imprint: Modern Language Initiative
Language: English

Contemporary thought has been profoundly shaped by the early-twentieth-century turn toward synchronic models of explanation, which analyze phenomena as they appear at a single moment, rather than diachronically as they develop through time. But the relationship between time and system remains unexplained by the standard account of this shift. Through a new history of systematic thinking across the humanities and sciences, The Writing of Spirit argues that nineteenth-century historicism wasn’t simply replaced by a more modern synchronic perspective. The structuralist revolution consisted rather in a turn toward time’s absolutely minimal conditions, and thus also toward a new theory of diachrony.

Pourciau arrives at this surprising and powerful conclusion through an analysis of language-scientific theories over the course of two centuries, associated with thinkers from Jacob Grimm and Richard Wagner to the Russian Futurists, in domains as disparate as historical linguistics, phonology, acoustics, opera theory, philosophy, poetics, and psychology. The result is a novel contribution to a pressing contemporary question—namely, what role history should play in the interpretation of the present.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Contemporary thought has been profoundly shaped by the early-twentieth-century turn toward synchronic models of explanation, which analyze phenomena as they appear at a single moment, rather than diachronically as they develop through time. But the relationship between time and system remains unexplained by the standard account of this shift. Through a new history of systematic thinking across the humanities and sciences, The Writing of Spirit argues that nineteenth-century historicism wasn’t simply replaced by a more modern synchronic perspective. The structuralist revolution consisted rather in a turn toward time’s absolutely minimal conditions, and thus also toward a new theory of diachrony.

Pourciau arrives at this surprising and powerful conclusion through an analysis of language-scientific theories over the course of two centuries, associated with thinkers from Jacob Grimm and Richard Wagner to the Russian Futurists, in domains as disparate as historical linguistics, phonology, acoustics, opera theory, philosophy, poetics, and psychology. The result is a novel contribution to a pressing contemporary question—namely, what role history should play in the interpretation of the present.

More books from Fordham University Press

Cover of the book The Lincoln Assassination by Sarah M. Pourciau
Cover of the book Trials of Arab Modernity by Sarah M. Pourciau
Cover of the book Killing Times by Sarah M. Pourciau
Cover of the book Redemptive Hope by Sarah M. Pourciau
Cover of the book Trance Mediums and New Media by Sarah M. Pourciau
Cover of the book Deus in Machina by Sarah M. Pourciau
Cover of the book Entangled Worlds by Sarah M. Pourciau
Cover of the book New York's Golden Age of Bridges by Sarah M. Pourciau
Cover of the book The Rilke Alphabet by Sarah M. Pourciau
Cover of the book An Ethics of Betrayal by Sarah M. Pourciau
Cover of the book Husserl's Missing Technologies by Sarah M. Pourciau
Cover of the book The Relevance of Royce by Sarah M. Pourciau
Cover of the book How We Got to Coney Island by Sarah M. Pourciau
Cover of the book Spirit, Qi, and the Multitude by Sarah M. Pourciau
Cover of the book Quiet Testimony by Sarah M. Pourciau
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy