{"title":"Philosophy--Language","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"tractatus-logico-philosophicus","title":"Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Philosophy is not a theory,\" asserted Austro-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), \"but an activity.\" In this 1921 opus, his only philosophical work published during his lifetime, Wittgenstein defined the object of philosophy as the logical clarification of thoughts and proposed the solution to most philosophic problems by means of a critical method of linguistic analysis. In proclaiming philosophy as a matter of logic rather than of metaphysics, Wittgenstein created a sensation among intellectual circles that influenced the development of logical positivism and changed the direction of 20th-century thought.\u003cbr\u003eBeginning with the principles of symbolism and the necessary relations between words and objects, the author applies his theories to various branches of traditional philosophy, illustrating how mistakes arise from inappropriate use of symbolism and misuses of language. After examining the logical structure of propositions and the nature of logical inference, he discusses the theory of knowledge as well as principles of physics and ethics and aspects of the mystical.\u003cbr\u003eSupervised by the author himself, this translation from the German by C. K. Ogden is regarded as the definitive text. A magisterial introduction by the distinguished philosopher Bertrand Russell hails Wittgenstein's achievement as extraordinarily important, \"one which no serious philosopher can afford to neglect.\" Introduction by Bertrand Russell.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 0486404455\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9780486404455\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Wittgenstein, Ludwig, N\/A, N\/A\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Dover Publications\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Dover Publications","offers":[{"title":"Paperback (Jan 1998)","offer_id":45657894518981,"sku":"9780486404455","price":11.69,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9780486404455.jpg?v=1768895650"},{"product_id":"abuse-of-language-abuse-of-power","title":"Abuse of Language, Abuse of Power","description":"One of the great Catholic philosophers of our day reflects on the way language has been abused so that, instead of being a means of communicating the truth and entering more deeply into it, and of the acquisition of wisdom, it is being used to control people and manipulate them to achieve practical ends. \u003cp\u003eReality becomes intelligible through words. Man speaks so that through naming things, what is real may become intelligible. This mediating character of language, however, is being increasingly corrupted. Tyranny, propaganda, mass-media destroy and distort words. They offer us apparent realities whose fictive character threatens to become opaque. Josef Pieper shows with energetic zeal, but also with ascetical restraint, the path out of this dangerous situation. We are constrained to see things again as they are and from the truth thus grasped, to live and to work. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 089870362X\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9780898703627\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Pieper, Josef, N\/A, N\/A\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Ignatius Press\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Ignatius Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback (Mar 1992)","offer_id":45659265859781,"sku":"9780898703627","price":11.66,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9780898703627.jpg?v=1768907503"},{"product_id":"the-war-on-words-10-arguments-against-free-speech-and-why-they-fail","title":"The War on Words: 10 Arguments Against Free Speech--And Why They Fail","description":"Heresy Press's first non-fiction offering addresses free speech and creative freedom--central to the Press's mission--through a systematic debunking of the most common pro-censorship arguments. Co-authored by Greg Lukianoff and Nadine Strossen, \u003ci\u003eThe War on Words: 10 Arguments Against Free Speech--And Why They Fail\u003c\/i\u003e constitutes a bulwark against the persistent censorial efforts from both the political left and right. At a time when conformist pressures threaten viewpoint diversity, and when political attacks on free expression are mounting, this book is a valuable resource for all who seek to understand and defend the right that is central to both individual liberty and our democratic self-government. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e This concise volume is organized around 10 claims that proponents of speech restrictions regularly assert, such as: \"words are violence,\" \"free speech is right-wing,\" and \"hate speech isn't free speech.\" In lively, clear, and persuasive prose, the authors examine the flaws in these pro-censorship assertions. The book also includes an insightful introduction by Jacob Mchangama, shedding additional light on the topic from historical and international perspectives. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 1949846822\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9781949846829\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Lukianoff, Greg, Strossen, Nadine, N\/A\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Heresy Press\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Heresy Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback (Jul 2025)","offer_id":45659641413829,"sku":"9781949846829","price":13.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9781949846829.jpg?v=1768913197"},{"product_id":"speaking-in-tongues","title":"Speaking in Tongues","description":"Language, historically speaking, has always been slippery. Two dictionaries provide two different maps of the universe: which one is true, or are both false? \u003cem\u003eSpeaking in Tongues\u003c\/em\u003e--taking the form of a dialogue between Nobel laureate novelist J. M. Coetzee and eminent translator Mariana Dimópulos--examines some of the most pressing linguistic issues that plague writers and translators well into the twenty-first century.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The authors address questions that we must answer in order to understand contemporary society. They inquire if one can truly \u003cem\u003elove\u003c\/em\u003e an acquired language, and they question why certain languages, like Spanish, have gender differences built into them. They examine the threat of monolingualism and ask how we can counter, if at all, the global spread of the English language, which seems to maraud like a colonial power. They question whether it should be the duty of the translator to remove morally objectionable, misogynistic, or racist language. And in the conclusion, Coetzee even speculates whether it's only mathematics that can tell the truth about everything.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Drawing from decades of experience in the craft of language, both Dimópulos and Coetzee face the reality, as did Walter Benjamin over a century ago in his seminal essay \"The Task of the Translator,\" that when it comes to self-expression, some things will always get lost in translation. \u003cem\u003eSpeaking in Tongues\u003c\/em\u003e finally emerges as an engaging and accessible work of philosophy, shining a light on some of the most important linguistic and philological issues of our time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 1324096454\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9781324096450\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Coetzee, J. M., Dimópulos, Mariana\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Liveright Publishing Corporation\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Liveright Publishing Corporation","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover (May 2025)","offer_id":46080214335685,"sku":"9781324096450","price":24.29,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9781324096450.jpg?v=1776035462"},{"product_id":"decolonizing-language-and-other-revolutionary-ideas","title":"Decolonizing Language and Other Revolutionary Ideas","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003cem\u003eLiterary Hub\u003c\/em\u003e Most Anticipated Book\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBrilliant thoughts on modern African literature and postcolonial literary criticism from one of the giants of contemporary letters\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"One of the greatest writers of our time.\" --Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cb\u003ebestselling author\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNgũgĩ wa Thiong'o was a towering figure in African literature, and his novels \u003cem\u003eA Grain of Wheat\u003c\/em\u003e; \u003cem\u003eWeep Not, Child\u003c\/em\u003e; and \u003cem\u003ePetals of Blood\u003c\/em\u003e are modern classics. Emerging from a literary scene that flourished in the 1950s and '60s during the last years of colonialism in Africa, he became known not just as a novelist--one who, in the late '70s, famously stopped writing novels in English and turned to the language he grew up speaking, Gĩkũyũ--but as a major postcolonial theorist.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eDecolonizing Language and Other Revolutionary Ideas\u003c\/em\u003e, Ngũgĩ gives us a series of essays that build on the revolutionary ideas about language and its constructive role in national culture, history, and identity that he set out in his earlier work--illuminating the intrinsic importance of keeping intact and honoring these native languages throughout time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntricate and deeply nuanced, this collection examines the enduring power of African languages in resisting both the psychic and material impacts of colonialism, past and present. These themes are elucidated through chapters on some contemporaries of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, including Chinua Achebe, Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo, and Wole Soyinka--each offering a distinct lens on the liberatory potential of language.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eA brave call for discourse and immensely relevant to our present moment, \u003cem\u003eDecolonizing Language and Other Revolutionary Ideas\u003c\/em\u003e works both as a wonderful introduction to the enduring themes of Ngũgĩ's work as well as a vital addition to the library of the world's greatest and most provocative writers.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 1620979322\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9781620979327\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, Wa Thiong'o, Ngugi\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: New Press\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"New Press","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover (May 2025)","offer_id":46080290193605,"sku":"9781620979327","price":23.39,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9781620979327.jpg?v=1776035871"},{"product_id":"rare-tongues-the-secret-stories-of-hidden-languages","title":"Rare Tongues: The Secret Stories of Hidden Languages","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn enthralling tour of the world's rarest and most endangered languages\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLanguages and cultures are becoming increasingly homogenous, with the resulting loss of a rich linguistic tapestry reflecting unique perspectives and ways of life. \u003ci\u003eRare Tongues\u003c\/i\u003e tells the stories of the world's rare and vanishing languages, revealing how each is a living testament to human resilience, adaptability, and the perennial quest for identity. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTaking readers on a captivating journey of discovery, Lorna Gibb explores the histories of languages under threat or already extinct as well as those in resurgence, shedding light on their origins, development, and distinctive voices. She travels the globe--from Australia and Finland to India, the Canary Islands, Namibia, Scotland, and Paraguay--showing how these languages are not mere words and syntax but keepers of diverse worldviews, sites of ethnic conflict, and a means for finding surprising commonalities. Readers learn the basics of how various language systems work--with vowels and consonants, whistles and clicks, tonal inflections, or hand signs--and how this kaleidoscope of self-expression carries vital information about our planet, indigenous cultures and tradition, and the history and evolution of humankind. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eRare Tongues\u003c\/i\u003e is essential reading for anyone concerned about the preservation of endangered languages and an eloquent and disarmingly personal meditation on why the world's linguistic heritage is so fundamental to our shared experience--and why its loss should worry us all.\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 0691274177\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9780691274171\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Gibb, Lorna\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Princeton University Press\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Princeton University Press","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover (Apr 2025)","offer_id":46080394559685,"sku":"9780691274171","price":26.96,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9780691274171.jpg?v=1776036828"},{"product_id":"cosmic-connections-poetry-in-the-age-of-disenchantment","title":"Cosmic Connections: Poetry in the Age of Disenchantment","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA\u003ci\u003e Times Literary Supplement \u003c\/i\u003eBest Book of the Year\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eA major new work by Charles Taylor: the long-awaited follow-up to \u003ci\u003eThe Language Animal\u003c\/i\u003e, exploring the Romantic poetics central to his theory of language.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Language Animal\u003c\/i\u003e, Charles Taylor's 2016 account of human linguistic capacity, was a revelation, toppling scholarly conventions and illuminating our most fundamental selves. But, as Taylor noted in that work, there was much more to be said. \u003ci\u003eCosmic Connections\u003c\/i\u003e continues Taylor's exploration of Romantic and post-Romantic responses to disenchantment and innovations in language. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eReacting to the fall of cosmic orders that were at once metaphysical and moral, the Romantics used the symbols and music of poetry to recover contact with reality beyond fragmented existence. They sought to overcome disenchantment and groped toward a new meaning of life. Their accomplishments have been extended by post-Romantic generations into the present day. Taylor's magisterial work takes us from Hölderlin, Novalis, Keats, and Shelley to Hopkins, Rilke, Baudelaire, and Mallarmé, and on to Eliot, Milosz, and beyond. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn seeking deeper understanding and a different orientation to life, the language of poetry is not merely a pleasurable presentation of doctrines already elaborated elsewhere. Rather, Taylor insists, poetry persuades us through the experience of connection. The resulting conviction is very different from that gained through the force of argument. By its very nature, poetry's reasoning will often be incomplete, tentative, and enigmatic. But at the same time, its insight is too moving--too obviously true--to be ignored.\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 0674296087\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9780674296084\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Taylor, Charles\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Belknap Press\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Belknap Press","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover (May 2024)","offer_id":46080895811781,"sku":"9780674296084","price":34.16,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9780674296084.jpg?v=1776041511"},{"product_id":"from-language-to-language-the-hospitality-of-translation","title":"From Language to Language: The Hospitality of Translation","description":"\u003cb\u003eIn this engaging humanist text, a renowned Senegalese philosopher explores the power of translation to bridge cultural divides.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eInformed by his own multicultural background--African, French, and American--Souleymane Bachir Diagne interrogates the practice of translation in this thoughtful text. Although translation often produces a relationship of profound inequality between dominant and dominated languages, it can also be a source of dialogue and exchange, including in situations of asymmetry, particularly regarding colonialism, where the interpreter becomes a true cultural mediator. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTo praise translation, \"the language of languages,\" is to celebrate its plurality and equality, because to translate is to give hospitality in one language to what has been thought in another. It is to create reciprocity, a shared sense of humanity, and to imagine a positive version of the Tower of Babel.\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-10: 1635423937\u003cbr\u003eISBN-13: 9781635423938\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Diagne, Souleymane Bachir, Temel, Dylan\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: Other Press (NY)\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Other Press (NY)","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover (Sep 2025)","offer_id":46080937296069,"sku":"9781635423938","price":22.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9781635423938.jpg?v=1776041803"},{"product_id":"transcendence-for-beginners-life-writing-and-philosophy","title":"Transcendence for Beginners: Life Writing and Philosophy","description":"\u003cb\u003eA lyrical work of philosophy that draws from the work of Spinoza, George Eliot, biographers, memoirists, and more to examine how wisdom and goodness are transmitted by individual human lives.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eTranscendence for Beginners\u003c\/i\u003e is an innovative book about philosophy and life writing, exploring how each practice might complement the other and so contribute to a greater understanding of human existence. Reflecting on writers and thinkers from Europe and India--such as Benedict Spinoza and S ren Kierkegaard, Ramana Maharshi and Marcel Proust--Clare Carlisle examines how deep, genuine wisdom and goodness are transmitted by individual lives. She considers her own intertwined pursuits as a philosopher and a biographer, as well as her roles as a mother and a daughter. Animated by the spirit of inquiry and the desire to share its rewards, \u003ci\u003eTranscendence for Beginners\u003c\/i\u003e is a generous, enlivening work by one of today's most original thinkers.\u003cdiv style=\"display:none\"\u003eISBN-13: 9798896230144\u003cbr\u003eAuthor: Carlisle, Clare\u003cbr\u003ePublisher: New York Review of Books\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"New York Review of Books","offers":[{"title":"Paperback (Apr 2026)","offer_id":46099710378181,"sku":"9798896230144","price":17.06,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0708\/6414\/2533\/files\/9798896230144.jpg?v=1776644318"},{"product_id":"how-to-do-things-with-words","title":"How to Do Things with Words","description":"\u003cp\u003eJohn L. Austin was a British philosopher of language and leading proponent of ordinary language philosophy, perhaps best known for developing the theory of speech acts. Austin pointed out that we use language to \u003cem\u003edo\u003c\/em\u003e things as well as to \u003cem\u003eassert\u003c\/em\u003e things, and that the utterance of a statement like \"I promise to do so-and-so\" is best understood as \u003cem\u003edoing\u003c\/em\u003e something - \u003cem\u003emaking a promise\u003c\/em\u003e - rather than making an assertion about anything. Hence the name of one of his best-known works \u003cem\u003eHow to Do Things with Words\u003c\/em\u003e. Austin, in providing his theory of speech acts, makes a significant challenge to the philosophy of language, far beyond merely elucidating a class of morphological sentence forms that function to do what they name. 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In \u003ci\u003eThe Language of the Soul\u003c\/i\u003e, Nepo explores the deep, often forgotten roots of 228 words from thirty-one languages and traditions, revealing their original, undiluted power to awaken, connect, and heal. Woven with stories from history, mythology, and the author's own remarkable life journey, this is a rich and contemplative guide to the spiritual essence of language. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eJust as rivers and mountains erode over time, so too do the meanings of words. Nepo invites readers to walk beside him along a timeless river of understanding, where ancient expressions are reawakened and everyday language is imbued with depth and resonance. Whether it's a word like \"courage\" or \"forgive\" or a lesser-known gem from Sanskrit, Hebrew, or Chinese, each entry becomes a doorway into timeless wisdom, offering moments of insight, stillness, and transformation. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFor seekers, artists, caregivers, and lovers of language, \u003ci\u003eThe Language of the Soul\u003c\/i\u003e is both a spiritual lexicon and a personal companion. 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