Syllabus
1) Introduction: sign vs gesture debate; Kendon’s continuum; gesture studies and sign language linguistics
2) Gesture and sign language in Antiquity: Plato – Cratylus; Lucretius – De rerum natura; Quintilianus – Institutio oratoria.
3) Gesture and sign language in the Middle Ages: St. Augustine – De magistro. Monastic sign language.
4) Deafness as deficiency: Aristotle, Hobbes.
5) Gesture and sign language in the 18th century (I): Condillac and Rousseau
6) Gesture and sign language in the 18th century (II): Desloges and Diderot
7) Gesture and sign language in the 18th century (III): Pereira and abbé de l’Epée
8) Gesture and sign language in the 18th century (IV): the phenomenon of wild children
9) Gesture and sign language in the 19th century (I): Andrea de Jorio and Gilbert Austin
10) Gesture and sign language in the 19th century (II): Edward Tylor and Garrick Mallery
11) Gesture, speech and world (Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jürgen Streeck)
12) Summary and discussion
Annotation
In the class, we will offer a brief historical overview of the way Western philosophers have reflected upon the phenomenon of gesture and sign language. We will examine particular texts (from Antiquity up to the 20th century) which deal – be it directly or undirectly – with the topic in question.
Even though the primary field of our interest will be philosophy, we will also make references to sign language linguistics, anthropology, theology, and psychology.