The demiurgic power of language

La puissance démiurgique de la langue

Pierre Frath (1, 2, 3)

1 CeLiSo - Centre de Linguistique en Sorbonne
2 CIRLEP - Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherches sur les Langues et la Pensée - EA 4299
3 LILPA - Linguistique, Langues et Parole

Language is often seen as a communication tool: we communicate mental objects which we assume pre-exist their expression. Language then tends to be considered as a code and society as an aggregate of ontological singularities that communicate. We will admit in this text that language is not distinct from thought and that it is a milieu that collectively forms and structures us. The consequence is that language tends to impose its truth on us, that it possesses a true demiurgic power capable of creating objects in our minds. Here we examine language from this angle and we try to see how to escape from what Ludwig Wittgenstein called "the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language".

Mots clés: language and thought; reference; language as a milieu; bewitchment

Domaines: Linguistique

Pierre Frath. La puissance démiurgique de la langue. Studii de lingvistică, 2023, De la forme et du sens en modulations linguistiques. Hommage a Annie Kuyumcuyan, pp.207-221. ⟨hal-04355868⟩