To eliminate human discourse by means of the metaphysical language of things
pp. 259-264
in: Olga Kiss (ed), Hermeneutics and science, Berlin, Springer, 1999Abstract
Since being, thought and language were considered as the differentiae in the long tradition of European philosophy, science always needed a metaphysical foundation. These differentiae were supposed to find their identity only in a metaphysical entity, called substance. The relationship between being, thought, and language was grounded hierarchically, especially, on ontology and/or epistemology, but almost never on the philosophy of language. Various attempts were made — first, in Aristotle's Metaphysics — to eliminate the ambiguity and the contingency of human discourse on the world by means of inventing the metaphysical language which was supposed to unfold the focal meaning of being. This usually meant that the philosophical problem of language was merged into that of being and thought. Therefore, language has almost never enjoyed an eminent status in the philosophical systems until recent decades, even if the ontic, ontological, and cognitive constructions of the world can be projected only in discourse. Language is the only thing which is always present in these different constructions.
