“怪兽”也离不开语言——从《利维坦》看霍布斯的语言观

On Hobbes’ View of Language

霍布斯虽然不能算作一流的哲学家,但是他的《利维坦》对同时代的学者影响很大,其中包括近代哲学的始祖笛卡尔。尽管这本书被视为政治理论的划时代之作,但它的基础却是语言。霍布斯认为没有语言,一切都将不复存在。本文总结霍布斯关于语言起源的思考,分析他对语言使用与误用的划分,探讨他关于语言时空维度的思想,剖析他对名词的论述,进而揭示语言在人类世界中的本体地位。同时,本文也在尝试为语言哲学研究提供参考。

Hobbes can＇ t be considered as the top philosophers, but his Leviathan has a great influence on the other scholars in the same age one of which is Descartes. This book is considered as a revolutionary work in the politic philosophy, but the basis is language. For Hobbes, there is no speech, there is nothing. This thesis summarizes his view about the origin of language, analy- sis the difference between use and abuse, discuss the time and space dimension, and also his idea about Nominalism. Finally we endeavor to show his ideas for ontology of language in order to provide some reference to the study of philosophy of language.