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Philosophers and Hieroglyphs

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Default Title
ISBN: 9788870118971
Description: softcover, 253 pp. (24x16 cm), figs.
Condition: very good
Weight: 420g.

 

 

Philosophers and Hieroglyphs, edited by L. Morra, C. Bazzanella, Rosenberg&Sellier, Torino 2013


Egyptian hieroglyphic writing has fascinated philosophers since ancient times, while Egyptologists have often been interested in philosophical and linguistic reflections upon language and writing. This volume shows some of the main results that have arisen from this reciprocal interest, and proves that both disciplines still have many things to say to each other about topics they enquire into from different perspectives and equipped with different competencies. Furthermore, it offers the reader elements of reflection about one of the most ancient stage of writing and knowledge. The twelve papers on the Egyptian hieroglyphic script have been written by philosophers and Egyptologists. The first of the two sections of the volume constructs a sketched history of Western philosophical reflections on hieroglyphic writing, starting from Neoplatonism and ending with Deconstructionism, through the Renaissance, Hegel’s age and analytical philosophy. The second section is dedicated to some of the latest Egyptolinguistic perspectives on hieroglyphic writing, and questions different pillars of standard Egyptolinguistics, namely the primeval ‘descriptive’ function of hieroglyphic writing, the neat distinction between ideograms, phonograms and determinatives or classifiers and the purely iconic role of the latter. In the new perspective, Egyptian writing is no longer conceived as a mirror of language, but as something that contributes to shaping the language and reflects thought models in evolution.