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workshop at Leiden University (fwd)

ASIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FORMATION OF MODERN SCIENCE

The Emergence of Artificial Languages

Workshop on September 20-21, 2002, Leiden, The Netherlands.

The history of ancient and medieval science can only be studied properly if
the Eurasian continent is treated as an undivided unit rather than a
collection of impermeable cognitive worlds. In their scientific uses, some
of the classical languages (Chinese, Sanskrit, Greek, Arabic and Latin)
were formalized to some extent, but they were not designed to express
abstract relationships in a systematic manner and neither universal, nor
formal enough. What happened next and culminated during the 17th/18th
centuries was a revolution in language, viz., the construction of formal
languages that grew out of natural language, artificial notations and
practical devices. The replacement of Latin by such languages, in
particular the language of algebra, was perhaps a greater revolution than
the so-called European scientific revolution. Some roots of that revolution
in language lie in Asia and the workshop will explore these roots without
excluding other Asian contributions to the formation of modern science.
Featured speakers: Charles Burnett (London), Karine Chemla (Paris), Jens
H?yrup (Copenhagen), Kim Plofker (Providence), Frits Staal (Berkeley), an
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Michio Yano (Kyoto).
Chairs of sessions: Kamaleswar Bhattacharya (Paris), Christoph Harbsmeier
(Oslo), Jan P. Hogendijk (Utrecht), and Dominik Wujastyk (London).
Convener: Frits Staal
Further information: Marloes Rozing: m.rozing@let.leidenuniv.nl
http://www.iias.nl/iias/agenda/modernscience


Frits Staal
http://philosophy.berkeley.edu/staal/