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RESEARCH PRODUCT

La Grammaire de Condillac face au paradoxe de l'origine naturelle du langage

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The recent discovery of mirror neurons has rivived the gestural-imitative theory of the origin of language advocated by Condillac in the XVIIIth century. Condillac develops this theory in two stages: in the Essai (1746) he proposes a gestural theory based on the arbitrariness of the sign, while in the Grammaire (1775) he refuses arbitrariness and accepts the theory of analogy and natural imitation proposed by Charles de Brosses (1765). This choice depends on the fact that in Rousseau (1755) and Beauzee (1765) arbitrariness, as a "paradox of the original contract", now plays the role of key argument in favor of the divine origin of language. So, the theory of analogy and natural imitation is the asset that allows Condillac to complete his project of a secular foundation of the faculties of the mind.