Development of the human mind from sensation to knowledge, from the viewpoints of Condillac and Bonnet -- Comparative study of sensationalism --

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24520085
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: History of thought
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: IINO Kazuo 名古屋大学, 国際言語文化研究科, 教授 (30212715)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 感覚論 / コンディヤック / 知性 / 記号 / ボネ / デリダ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Condillac and Bonnet, two representative sensationalists of the 18th century, analyzed the process in which human understanding develops from sensation. I compared and examined their thoughts. At first I traced the process in which Condillac's sensationalism undergoes changes. As Condillac thought that the function of signs played an important role in human intellectual development, I studied characteristics of his sign concept. On the other hand, Bonnet, who was also a naturalist, adopted a physiological viewpoint and assumed that cerebral nerve fibre forming a meshwork underlay intellectual function. I clarified in this way the characteristics of their conceptualizations and advanced a comparative study of the thoughts of the two people. I went twice to Paris and Geneva for investigation and clarified in particular the process in which Condillac had revised his "Essay on the Origin of Human Knowledge".

Free Research Field

思想史