Meaning in the Age of Modernism: CK Ogden and His Contemporaries
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COPYRIGHT AND USE OF THIS THESIS This thesis must be used in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Reproduction of material protected by copyright may be an infringement of copyright and copyright owners may be entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. Section 51 (2) of the Copyright Act permits an authorized officer of a university library or archives to provide a copy (by communication or otherwise) of an unpublished thesis kept in the library or archives, to a person who satisfies the authorized officer that he or she requires the reproduction for the purposes of research or study. The Copyright Act grants the creator of a work a number of moral rights, specifically the right of attribution, the right against false attribution and the right of integrity. You may infringe the author’s moral rights if you: - fail to acknowledge the author of this thesis if you quote sections from the work - attribute this thesis to another author - subject this thesis to derogatory treatment which may prejudice the author’s reputation For further information contact the University’s Director of Copyright Services sydney.edu.au/copyright Meaning in the Age of Modernism: C. K. Ogden and his contemporaries James McElvenny Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English University of Sydney 2013 ABSTRACT This dissertation is a historical study of influential currents in the philosophy of language and linguistics of the first half of the twentieth century, explored from the perspective of the English scholar C. K. Ogden (1889–1957). Although no ‘Great Man’ in his own right, Ogden had a personal connection, reflected in his work, to several of the most significant figures of the age. The background to the ideas espoused in Ogden’s book The Meaning of Meaning, co- authored with I.A. Richards (1893–1979), are examined in detail, along with the application of these ideas in his international language project Basic English. A richly interlaced network of connections is revealed between early analytic philosophy, semiotics and linguistics, all inevitably shaped by the contemporary cultural and political environment. In particular, significant interaction is shown between Ogden’s ideas, the varying versions of ‘logical atomism’ of Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) and Ludwig Wittgensten (1889–1951), Victoria Lady Welby’s (1837–1912) ‘significs’, and the philosophy and political activism of Otto Neurath (1882–1945) and Rudolf Carnap (1891–1970) of the Vienna Circle. Amid these interactions emerges a previously little known mutual exchange between the academic philosophy and linguistics of the period and the practically oriented efforts of the international language movement. In exploring these connections, novel light is shed on the intellectual history of a period crucial in the development of both linguistics and philosophy. CONTENTS Abstract.................................................................................................. Acknowledgements................................................................................ 1. Introduction......................................................................................1 1. Setting the scene..........................................................................1 2. Outline.........................................................................................5 3. Rationale....................................................................................10 2. The Meaning of Meaning...............................................................15 1. Introduction................................................................................15 2. The many functions of language................................................19 3. Definition and the canons of symbolism...................................26 4. Logical atomism and its allies...................................................31 5. The trigonometry of reference...................................................41 6. Significs and sympathisers.........................................................44 7. Antagonism and synthesis..........................................................53 8. Philologists, psychologists and anthropologists........................64 9. Summary and conclusion...........................................................70 3. Basic English.................................................................................72 1. Introduction................................................................................72 2. The Enlightenment and modernity.............................................76 3. Peace and progress.....................................................................81 4. The common solution................................................................93 5. Basic English and the common solution..................................107 6. Panoptic conjugation................................................................113 7. Grammatical Reform................................................................119 8. Bentham and beyond...............................................................125 9. Totalitarianism.........................................................................135 10. Summary and conclusion.......................................................145 4. Ogden and the Vienna Circle.......................................................147 1. Introduction..............................................................................147 2. The Viennese scene..................................................................148 3. The everyday versus metaphysics............................................153 4. International picture language.................................................169 5. Contact and collaboration........................................................177 6. Totalitarianism revisited...........................................................190 7. Summary and conclusion.........................................................196 5. Epilogue.......................................................................................198 1. Review and results...................................................................198 2. Future directions......................................................................201 Bibliography.....................................................................................211 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Over the years in which this dissertation has taken shape I have received support, instruction and assistance from numerous people. First among these would have to be my supervisor, Nick Riemer, whose gentle guidance not only helped me to direct my research efforts and finally assemble words on the page, but also inspired in me an intellectual attitude that allowed me to overcome my disaffection with academia and do constructive work. His open- mindedness and the unparalleled degree of freedom he granted me are probably the two key elements that made this possible. At times this freedom seemed almost a burden: at some stages in my research I fantasised about committing a crime with a minimum custodial sentence just to bring structure into my life (as a committed pacifist, the more conventional option of joining the army was always unavailable to me). But this freedom allowed me to roam in – what was for me – new intellectual territory, and he always appeared at the right moments, compass in hand, when I was in danger of getting lost. For inducting me into the world of interlinguistics I must thank the Gesellschaft für Interlinguistik, and Sabine Fiedler and Detlev Blanke, who invited me to join it. Sabine and Detlev also read various versions of my thoughts on interlinguistics and provided invaluable comments. Piers Kelly, Peter Farleigh and Anders Ahlqvist all read late drafts of this dissertation and helped to prevent my idiosyncrasies from developing into outright idiocy. My three external examiners, John Joseph, Friedrich Stadler and Marcus Tomalin, each suggested several revisions which have greatly improved the final product. Annette Hanshaw, the Comedian Harmonists, and the Palast Orchester with its singer Max Raabe provided a fitting soundtrack for good-humoured reflection on the 1920s and 30s. Max Raabe and his orchestra additionally normalised and validated my fascination with this period, at least in my mind. Above all, I have to thank Arwen for her unflagging support throughout the entire process of researching this topic and writing about it. Of course, the usual disclaimer of responsibility applies to these acknowledgements. Although all those named above are incontestably accessories to the fact, the errors, misrepresentations, and other offences against scholarly and literary decency that this dissertation contains are my fault alone. 1. INTRODUCTION 1. Setting the scene In novels, Utopias, essays, films, pamphlets, the antithesis crops up, always more or less the same. On the one side science, order, progress, internationalism, aeroplanes, steel, concrete, hygiene: on the other side war, nationalism, religion, monarchy, peasants, Greek professors, poets, horses. History as he sees it is a series of victories won by the scientific man over the romantic man. (Orwell 1968[1941]:142) Written during the most hopeless days of the Second World War, this is George Orwell’s (1903–1950) summary of the main themes in the writings of H.G. Wells (1866–1946). The faith in science and technology to