{"product_id":"the-language-animal-the-full-shape-of-the-human-linguistic-capacity-9780674303584","title":"The Language Animal: The Full Shape of the Human Linguistic Capacity","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"We have been given a powerful and often uplifting vision of what it is to be truly human.\" --John Cottingham, \u003ci\u003eThe Tablet\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn seminal works ranging from \u003ci\u003eSources of the Self\u003c\/i\u003e to \u003ci\u003eA Secular Age, \u003c\/i\u003e Charles Taylor has shown how we create possible ways of being, individually and as a society. \u003ci\u003eThe Language Animal\u003c\/i\u003e examines the foundation of this generative process. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFor centuries, philosophers have been divided on the nature of language. Rational empiricists--Hobbes, Locke, Condillac, and their heirs--assert that language is a tool to encode and communicate information. Yet this view neglects language's crucial role in shaping the thought it expresses. Taylor argues that language does not merely describe; it constitutes meaning. Nor is linguistic capacity innately possessed. We learn language from others, and our individual selves emerge from the conversation. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTaylor expands the thinking of the German Romantics Hamann, Herder, and Humboldt into a theory of linguistic holism. Language is intellectual, but it is also enacted in artistic portrayals, gestures, metaphors, tones of voice, and the shifts of emphasis and attitude that accompany speech. Language recognizes no boundary between mind and body. In illuminating the full capacity of the language animal, Taylor sheds light on the very question of what it is to be human.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Belknap Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/10\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780674303584\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 368","brand":"Charles Taylor","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52161359315125,"sku":"9780674303584","price":23.76,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_d8f87547-6b31-40a6-8802-ba5dbe51bb5b.jpg?v=1768318057","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/the-language-animal-the-full-shape-of-the-human-linguistic-capacity-9780674303584","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}