Johann August Philipp Gesner (1738–1801). A Review of His Essay “The Language Amnesia” in The Bicentennial Anniversary of His Death

On the 200th anniversary of Johann August Philipp Gesner's death, this paper summarizes and discusses a paper on language amnesia published in 1770. The author had clear knowledge of selective mental impairments resulting from brain diseases, and of separate mental representations for words and their underlying concepts. However, to explain the language impairment, Gesner suggested that it would not be caused by focal damage to a specific anatomic and functional unit of the mind, but is the consequence of a general sluggishness of the mental processes.     

杨慎其人其书

《杨慎书法册》,册长38、宽28厘米,画心长32.5、宽23.5厘米,共九开,册页的封面和封底为蓝色封皮,题签为《杨升庵先生真迹》,现藏济南市博物馆。杨慎,字用修,号升庵,新都(今属四川)人。明弘治元年(1488年)生于京城,正德六年(1511年),在他     

Saussure and his intellectual environment

SUMMARY

The present study paints the intellectual environment in which Ferdinand de Saussure developed his ideas about language and linguistics during the fin de siècle. It sketches his dissatisfaction with that environment to the extent that it touched on linguistics, and shows the new course he was trying to steer on the basis of ideas that seemed to open new and exciting perspectives, even though they were still vaguely defined. As Saussure himself was extremely reticent about his sources and intellectual pedigree, his stance in the lively European cultural context in which he lived can only be established through textual critique and conjecture. On this basis, it is concluded that Saussure, though relatively uninformed about its historical roots, essentially aimed at integrating the rationalist tradition current in the sciences in his day into a new, ‘scientific’ general theory of language. In this, he was heavily indebted to a few predecessors, such as the French philosopher-psychologist Victor Egger, and particularly to the French psychologist, historian and philosopher Hippolyte Taine, who was a major cultural influence in nineteenth-century France, though now largely forgotten. The present study thus supports Hans Aarsleff's analysis, where, for the first time, Taine's influence is emphasised, and rejects John Joseph's contention that Taine had no influence and that, instead, Saussure was influenced mainly by the romanticist Adolphe Pictet. Saussure abhorred Pictet's method of etymologising, which predated the Young Grammarian school, central to Saussure's linguistic education. The issue has implications for the positioning of Saussure in the history of linguistics. Is he part of the non-analytical, romanticist and experience-based European strand of thought that is found in art and postmodernist philosophy and is sometimes called structuralism, or is he a representative of the short-lived European branch of specifically linguistic structuralism, which was rationalist in outlook, more science-oriented and more formalist, but lost out to American structuralism? The latter seems to be the case, though phenomenology, postmodernism and art have lately claimed Saussure as an icon.     

释“洞庭”及其相关问题

唐宋以来,"洞庭"一词的含义一直被解释为"洞府之庭"。这种认识是错误的。洞庭一名的语源很可能来自古百越民族语言,为红色平地之意;《尚书.禹贡》导江章中的"东陵"一名,很可能同样源于古越语,为"洞庭"的汉字异记。秦洞庭郡的治所应该在索县,也就是后来西汉武陵郡的治所,当今湖南省常德市东北韩公渡镇城址村。刘宋以来,有学者指太湖为洞庭湖别名,当是在道教思想的影响下附会出来的说法。本文为正确认识上古时代湖南洞庭地区的自然地理面貌提供了新的思考角度。     

"和谐论"史学之旨趣--以理查德·霍夫施塔特为例

出现于20世纪40年代末的"和谐论"史学,是美国史学的一个重要流派.它以和谐的笔调赞美美国社会内部的连续性与一致性,体现了二战后美国民众的普遍心态以及历史学这门学科的衍化.以"和谐论"史学的主要代表人物、美国著名的政治史学家理查德·霍夫施塔特(Richard Hofstadter)为个案,便于说明"和谐论"史学的旨趣.     

Dimensions of remapping: Heinrich Schiffers and his mental map of Africa

ABSTRACT

At the beginning of the 1960s, the Athenäum publishing house in Germany planned a revised and extended edition of Heinrich Schiffers’ (1901–1982) successful book Wilder Erdteil Afrika (English translation: The Quest for Africa). The bestselling author had published several monographs about Africa since the 1930s, and authored and edited numerous works after World War II. Nearly all of these works, whose substantial print runs are testament to their popularity, are characterized by an engaging combination of text, images, and cartographic material, creating narratives and mental maps about Africa, its history, and the colonial past. In his later writings, he stressed the importance of “relearning” with regard to Africa and struggled to remap the imaginative geography of Africa. In this paper, I examine the characteristics of Schiffers’ imaginative geography and the change in his writings and maps. I explore whether his concept of “relearning” was an epistemological decolonization or if there were any continuities found in his imaginative geography. In order to grasp the specifics of his thinking, his geography will be briefly compared with that of his contemporary, Frankfurt zoo director Bernhard Grzimek.     

In the words of the apostle: Pauline apostolic discourse in the letters of Boniface and his circle

This article analyses the correspondence of Boniface and his associates, arguing that Boniface deliberately but subtly communicates a Pauline apostolic identity in his letters, expressing his personal and professional successes, struggles, and feelings through a pervasive language of biblical allusions drawn primarily from the Pauline Epistles. The effectiveness of this hermeneutic becomes apparent when we see the complicity of Boniface's fellow correspondents and their ability and willingness to respond to his Pauline allusions in kind. They express their support of Boniface's missionary and reform projects through their participation in these discursive practices; their ability to recognize, interpret and engage with this biblical language supplies the meaning to his words and, in doing so, systematically constitutes Boniface as an apostolic figure.     

The life and times of Thomas Willis and his impact on contemporary medicine

Thomas Willis made numerous contributions to the neurosciences that were broad in scope. In an age of scientific breakthroughs and intellectual revolutions, Willis bestowed upon medical research the clinical rigor that set the stage for subsequent medical breakthroughs. In Cerebri Anatome, Willis introduced a measure of empiricism hitherto unknown in medieval times. By coupling the delineation of brain and neural anatomy with functional studies, Willis brought the science of clinical neurology into fruition. Psychiatry, too, benefited from Willis' elucidation of mental illness and intellectual disability, and modern behavioral psychologists claim Willis as one their early, most ardent champions.     

“共和”与“民主”的趋同——美国革命时期对“共和政体”的重新界定

在美国革命时期,"共和"这一古老政治词汇的含义发生了重大变化。美国建国者参照各种政治理论和历史经验,结合他们所处社会的特点,不仅成功建立了一种新型政体,而且为它做了全面的辩护和诠释,从而完成了对"共和政体"的重新界定。这种新型的共和政体,不再是"人民"与贵族分享权力的混合政体,而是完全建立在"人民主权"基础上的代表制政体,它的社会基础、价值取向和适应范围都发生了深刻变化,与古典共和理念之间形成了明显的差异。与此同时,"民主"的概念也得以扩充,"人民"通过代表制行使政治权力的政府,与"人民"亲自掌握权力的政府一样,都可以叫做"民主"。这两个交错并行的观念转化过程,不仅塑造了现代意义上的"共和"与"民主"的概念,而且使得两个原本含义不同的政体名称,最终变成了同义词。     

在碰撞中强健思维的翅膀——浅谈幼儿语言活动中的问题设计

提问是幼儿教育阶段语言活动中最常用、最直接的交流,不仅能很好的促进师幼互动,更能激发孩子的思维,触动美的心灵,启迪孩子幼小的心智。     

A reappraisal of the controversy of Dax and Broca

Paul Broca is unanimously recognized as the founder of neuropsychology. Helis development of the scientific method to map mental functions onto brain topographpy has been enormously influential. Nevertheless, Dax's paper on the left hemisphere dominance for speech was written and published before Broca explicitely proposed the same theory. Probably, Broca was aware of the paper prior to 1865, but he never acknowledged Dax's original theoretical contribution. On the contrary, he always claimed to be the first to espouse the theory of left hemisphere dominance for language and never quoted Marc Dax (Broca, 1877 p 536), 'I do not like dealing with the questions of priority concerning myself. That is the reason why I did not mention the name of Dax in my paper'. In our opinion, the weight of evidence reported here suggests that the theory of the left hemisphere dominance for speech must be attributed equally to Dax and Broca, and henceforth should be called 'the theory of Dax-Broca'.     

《三国志》日译本得失谈

随着全球化时代的到来,汉籍古典名著的今注今译工作,越来越受到学术界的重视。就《三国志》而言,近二十年以来,中文及外文译本已多达十来种。然而有些译注者疏于校释,以至时有错谬。日本学者今鹰真等三人的《正史三国志》。(含裴注)日译本,有些地方还胜过了中文今译本。本文对日译本与中文今译本的译文进行了初步比对,从语言解释、底本校勘等角度列举了二者的得失,藉以说明进行汉籍今译工作时中日学术交流的重要性。     

《河间医集》校勘拾遗

刘河间在医史上属金元四大家之一,其人影响广泛,述颇多。孙洽熙先生搜集刘氏及其门人、私淑整理的书籍共九种,汇为一编,并加以精心校勘,确实有功于河间医学非浅。但刘河间的述,其医理、语言在众多医家中算是比较难懂的。本查考了河间述诸多单行本,与此书进行校勘,并用河间作本身的内容相互对照,广泛查稽,从而纠正了书中校勘上存在的一些差错疏漏。     

Botswana: abortion "debate" dynamics

The Penal Code (Amendment) Bill or the abortion bill has the objective of liberalizing the current law on the regulation of abortion. Abortion had been strictly prohibited and carried stiff penalties. Anyone who attempted to assists a woman to procure an abortion could be liable to 7 years' imprisonment. However, medical abortions were distinguished as being medically determined to save the health of the mother. Demands for a reevaluation of the law came from the medical profession, and in response the Minister for Presidential Affairs submitted a bill to Parliament in November, 1990. The expressed government rationale for these proposed amendments was concern about the health of women. In Botswana about 200 women die yearly because of pregnancy. According to the proposed law: an abortion could be carried out within the first 16 weeks of pregnancy if: 1) the pregnancy were a result of rape, incest, or defilement (the impregnation of a girl aged 16 or less, the impregnation of imbeciles or idiots), 2) the physical or mental health of the woman were at risk because of the pregnancy, 3) the child would be born with a serious physical or mental abnormality. The abortion could be carried out only if 2 medical doctors approved it. The amendments fall far short of increasing women's control over their bodies. The Botswana Christian Council issued a statement early in the public debate. While it did not oppose the bill in its entirety, clear concern was expressed concerning the apparent right of determining who lives and who dies depending on the handicap of the child. This rather liberal position was challenged by the Roman Catholic Church which interpreted abortion as the murder of God-given life. The bill was nevertheless passed by Parliament in September 1991, and the President signed it on October 11, 1991.     

Dressing and Addressing the Mental Patient: The Uses of Clothing in the Admission,Care and Employment of Residents in English Provincial Mental Hospitals,c. 1860–1960

Scholars of insanity and its historical antecedents have paid very little attention to personal and institutional clothing. Such dress, distributed to patients in mental institutions, has always been inscribed with the conflicting narratives of the period in which it was made and worn. The language of civil and medical authority is more evident than personal choice in the shape and address of the attire. This article examines clothing worn by patients in three Devon mental hospitals during the century before 1960. We consider the ways in which institutional clothing formed part of a hospital regimen of overt control, as well as suiting considerations of economy and employment that figured in these institutions.     

The world picture of Philip the fair

During the arrest and early months of the trial of the Templars in 1307 and 1308, a number of documents emanated from Philip IV's chancery which are not only valuable evidence of the regime's administrative concerns during the trial, but also, in the language used, convey a sense of contemporary concepts of the medieval world order as seen either by the king himself or by his chief advisers. Royal motivation for the arrests is still a matter of controversy, but it does not seem inconsistent to believe that Philip both sought the Templars' wealth to alleviate immediate financial problems and came to convince himself that the Templars had transgressed the laws upon which the whole ordering of society was based. It is upon this second aspect of Philip's mental outlook that this discussion concentrates. This paper aims to examine these concepts and to relate them to other contemporary polemical views on the trial.     

“满洲假名”的缘起与终结

“满洲假名”系1934年7月由伪满洲国大同学院教授曾恪提出的用日语假名表记汉语的文字方案,这是一个完全屈服于日本殖民统治的中国知识分子应时而生的特殊文化奉献。1940年由日本文部省所属机构付诸实施,意在取代注音符号,排挤汉字体系,后随着日本战败而消亡。“满洲假名”的缘起与终结的历史过程,十分清楚地表明了日本在伪满洲国实施的语言殖民政策的恶劣本质。     

The world picture of Philip the fair

During the arrest and early months of the trial of the Templars in 1307 and 1308, a number of documents emanated from Philip IV's chancery which are not only valuable evidence of the regime's administrative concerns during the trial, but also, in the language used, convey a sense of contemporary concepts of the medieval world order as seen either by the king himself or by his chief advisers. Royal motivation for the arrests is still a matter of controversy, but it does not seem inconsistent to believe that Philip both sought the Templars' wealth to alleviate immediate financial problems and came to convince himself that the Templars had transgressed the laws upon which the whole ordering of society was based. It is upon this second aspect of Philip's mental outlook that this discussion concentrates. This paper aims to examine these concepts and to relate them to other contemporary polemical views on the trial.     

浅谈小学语文教学中的经典教育

教育的本质属性是培养人的社会活动,即根据一定的社会现实和未来的需要,遵循青年一代身心发展的规律,使之全面发展,成为适应一定社会需要和促进社会发展的人。袭轰烈烈的教改下的新课程的基本取向是为了每个学生的发展,这也正是教改的灵魂。换言之,培养学生的独立性和自主性,也就是让每一个学生的个性充分发展,培养出丰富多彩的人格。《全日制义务教育语文课程标准》提出了全新的语文教育理念：全面提高学生的语文素养,准确把握语文学科的特点,积极倡导自主、合作、探究的学习方式,努力建设开放而有活力的语文课程。而经典教育对于学生能力及内涵的培养是必要的。     

Armand Trousseau--some of his contributions to neurology

Trousseau made a remarkably large number of original clinical contributions to medicine and neurology. Best known are Trousseau's syndrome, the combination of venous thrombosis with visceral carcinoma; tache cérébrale, the red streak seen on scratching the skin in acute meningitis; and Trousseau's sign, the cardinal physical sign in tetany. His pioneering work in tracheostomy in diphtheria, haemochromatosis, Parkinson's disease, aphasia and chorea are but a few of his outstanding clinical studies. Based on his famously comprehensive text, Clinique Médicale de l'H?tel Dieu, this paper highlights a few of his discoveries. The name of Armand Trousseau must stand alongside those of Charcot, Oppenheim, Jackson and Gowers in the annals of neurology.