Full Description
Do we really know how words actually refer to things, how they describe the world? These questions are not limited to the study of language. They quickly lead to important debates about the character of existence and subjectivity, and they are also linked to wider questions about gender and the status of capitalism. Michael Halewood uses ideas from analytic philosophy and continental philosophy as well as social theory to look at the relation of language to the world, and the world to language. Primarily using the work of the innovative British philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, but also incorporating the ideas of Gilles Deleuze, John Dewey and Luce Irigaray, he argues that viewing both the world and language as 'in process' can help reframe and move beyond some enduring problems and shed new light for future research.
Contents
Preface
Introduction: The Problem of Words and Things
Nouns, Names and Signs: From Frege to Saussure
Adjectives: The Properties of the World and the 'Bifurcation of Nature'
Verbs: Deleuze on Infinitives, Events and Process
Adverbs: Dewey on the Qualities of Existence
Prepositions: Whitehead on the Withness of the Body
Gender and Personal Pronouns: She, He, It and They
Tone, Force and Rhetoric: Capitalism, Theology and Grammar
Conclusion
Bibliography
