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Jan 15, 2025
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2017-2018 Academic Catalog [Archived Catalog]
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HUM 222H - The Mystery of Language
Credits: Four (4)
Prerequisite: Membership in Bascom Honors Program
We speak and write every day, and yet language remains one of the
greatest mysteries of our existence. Is it language that
distinguishes humans from animals? Is it possible to trace the
origins of human language? What is the relationship between speech
and silence? Between language and experience? Between words and
images? Between original and translation? What are the limits of
language? Can we even define what language is? This
interdisciplinary course will explore the mythological,
philosophical, theological, linguistic, and literary dimensions of
these and similar questions. Our readings will span 2500 years of
reflections on language, from the Bible and Plato to contemporary
inquiries. Along the way, we will encounter philosophers such as
Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, and Heidegger, poets such as T.S. Eliot
and Emily Dickinson, medieval mystics and modern linguists, and
many other writers wrestling with the enigma of language.
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