This edited collection investigates historical linguistic politeness and impoliteness. Although some research has been undertaken uniting politeness and historical pragmatics, it has been sporadic at best, and often limited to traditional theoretical approaches. This is a strange state of affairs, because politeness plays a central role in the social dynamics of language. This collection, containing contributions from renowned experts, aims to fill this hiatus, bringing together cutting-edge research. Not only does it illuminate the language usage of earlier periods, but by examining the past
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'Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon' compiled by Mark W. DeLancey and Mark Dike DeLancey, 'Historical Dictionary of Djibouti' compiled by Daoud A. Alwan and Yohannis Mibrathu, 'Historical Dictionary of Liberia' compiled by D. Elwood Dunn, Amos J. Beyan and Carl Patrick Burrowes, and 'Historical Dictionary of Nigeria' compiled by Anthony Oyewole and John Lucas are reviewed.
Different philosophical & theological perspectives on the nature of truth are examined to assess whether or not truth is historical. Among the several perspectives discussed are: the New Testament's notion of truth; Soren Kierkegaard's dictum that truth is subjective; Martin Heidegger's understanding of truth, which extols art as the highest form of truth because of its noncorrespondence with reality; & Michel Foucault's idea of truth as inextricably bound with power relations. Several real world examples are given to show how different kinds of truth are used to inform actions in everyday life. It is concluded that truth is indeed historical, but it is also a regulative idea that is anchored in whatever an individual wishes to consider true; in this respect, truth is idiosyncratic & subjective. W. Howard
A review of The Category of the Person: Anthropology, Philosophy, History (Carrithers, Michael, et al [Eds], Cambridge: Cambridge U Press, 1986 [see listing in IRPS No. 38]), which is dedicated to the memory of the French sociologist Marcel Mauss. Mauss's views are summarized as presented in his essay on the notion of self or person first published in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 1938, 68). As a social historian, Mauss is concerned with the self as self-awareness, the evolving concept of self, & the category of self, ie, of a being possessing metaphysical & moral value. He traces the evolution of the concept of self from ancient times to the present, & concludes that the category of self is a western European one that is absent from other societies. The other contributors to this anthology either agree or disagree with this thesis: a number of essays deal with explicit intellectual systems, & with philosophical & religious theories that have evolved over time to their present form; other essays deal with implicit systems, indigenous psychologies, & commonsense beliefs that are embedded in the social life & behavior of different peoples & societies. Two objections are raised to the main thesis of the book: (1) this concept of the person as possessing metaphysical & moral value is not shared by many contemporary writers; & (2) the book, which admittedly deals with a social historical concept, does not consider the antihumanist view of history as a natural process devoid of any intelligibility. Modified AA
