Alexander Bryan Johnson
Encyclopedia
Alexander Bryan Johnson (May 29, 1786 – September 9, 1867) was an American philosopher and banker.
, Hampshire
, England
, at age 16 he emigrated to the United States, and settled at Utica
, where he was a banker for many years. He was admitted to the bar
, but never practised.
His 1936 work, A Treatise on Language, was little recognised in his own time, and this remained the case for nearly a century after his death. It can now be seen to have anticipated the thrust of logical positivism
, at least in arguing that misunderstandings of how language operates bedevil philosophical questions, and theories of modern linguistics
.
He wrote several works on financial and political topics.
Biography
Born in GosportGosport
Gosport is a town, district and borough situated on the south coast of England, within the county of Hampshire. It has approximately 80,000 permanent residents with a further 5,000-10,000 during the summer months...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, at age 16 he emigrated to the United States, and settled at Utica
Utica, New York
Utica is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 62,235 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.6% from the 2000 census....
, where he was a banker for many years. He was admitted to the bar
Bar (law)
Bar in a legal context has three possible meanings: the division of a courtroom between its working and public areas; the process of qualifying to practice law; and the legal profession.-Courtroom division:...
, but never practised.
Philosophy
From his youth he had given all his leisure to the study of problems in intellectual philosophy, and especially of the relations between knowledge and language. He attempted to show the ultimate meaning of words, apart from their meaning as related to each other in ordinary definition, and thus to ascertain the nature of human knowledge as it exists independent of the words in which it is expressed.His 1936 work, A Treatise on Language, was little recognised in his own time, and this remained the case for nearly a century after his death. It can now be seen to have anticipated the thrust of logical positivism
Logical positivism
Logical positivism is a philosophy that combines empiricism—the idea that observational evidence is indispensable for knowledge—with a version of rationalism incorporating mathematical and logico-linguistic constructs and deductions of epistemology.It may be considered as a type of analytic...
, at least in arguing that misunderstandings of how language operates bedevil philosophical questions, and theories of modern linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
.
Writings
- Philosophy of Human Knowledge, or a Treatise on Language (New York, 1828)
- Treatise on Language, or the Relation which Words bear to Things (1836)
- Religion in its Relation to the Present Life (1840), in which he aims to establish the congruity of Christian precepts with man's physical, intellectual, and emotional nature
- The Meaning of Words Analyzed into Words and Unverbal Things, and Unverbal Things Classified into Intellections, Sensations, and Emotions (1854), in which he confesses that he had been 50 years in arriving at a clear comprehension of the object of his search
- Physiology of the Senses, or How and What we See, Hear, Taste, Feel, and Smell (1856)
- Encyclopaedia of Instruction, or Apologues and Breviates on Men and Manners (1857)
- The Philosophical Emperor: A Political Experiment; or The Progress of a False Proposition (New York, 1841), attributed to him
He wrote several works on financial and political topics.
External Links
Further reading
- Robert SonkinRobert SonkinRobert Sonkin was an American scholar of speech, language, and music.-Life:Sonkin was born into an Orthodox Jewish family in the Bronx, New York, on December 25, 1910.. Sonkin, who held degrees from City College and Columbia University, founded the speech clinic at City College. He met Charles L...
, (1977). Alexander Bryan Johnson: Philosophical Banker.