Lingua ac Communitas, 2010, Volumin 20

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Johann Nicolaus Tetens. Der Vergessene Kritiker von Herder und Süßmilch
(Wydawnictwo Naukowe Instytutu Filozofii UAM, 2010) Żurych, Oliwia
The objective of this article is to present the thinking of a German philosopher Johann Nicolaus Tetens with particular reference to his views on the origin of language. Tetens took a great interest in epistemology, philosophy of language, a various aspects of exact science like mathematics, physics, statistics, finances, and natural science. The great impact on his philosophical views had Locke’s and Hume’s empiricism and Leibniz’s philosophy. He is considered to have been an influence on Immanuel Kant. In the 18th century debate on the origin of language Tetens presented a contradictory approach to both most popular theories of Süssmilch and Herder. He rejected both the idea of divine origin of language and the naturalistic one, according to which language is a natural and essential physiological function of human body. Tetens deemed that humans possess predispositions typical to their species and under certain circumstances are able to create a language in the process of socialisation.