Philology, Or the Science of Activities Designed for Expression (Classic Reprint)

Download or read book Philology, Or the Science of Activities Designed for Expression (Classic Reprint) written by John Wesley Powell and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2018-02 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Philology, or the Science of Activities Designed for Expression The fourth group of arts in the scheme hitherto presented In this journal consists of the languages which men devise to express their thoughts. Every art has its foundation In nature, for art arises through the attempt to improve on nature. Activity, as we have defined it, or self-activity as it is often called in psychology, is the primeval expression of animals by which their thoughts are interpreted by other animals. This primeval activital expression assumes a new phase under development, when it is known as the language of the emo tions. In fact, primitive activital expression is the germ from which all other kinds of language are developed. All nature is expressive, but activital nature is especially expressive of mind. Thus activities constitute a natural lan guage expressing the minds of activital bodies, but such expres sion is not designed to be understood by others; it is therefore not conventional, and therefore not artificial. Natural expres sion must be distinguished from artificial expression or lan guage, for natural expression is not designed to convey con cepts, while expressions which are designed to convey concepts constitute language. Hence language may be defined as the artificial expression of concepts in judgments by words in propositions. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.