Experience, Evidence, And Sense: The Hidden Cultural Legacy Of English Experience, Evidence, & Sense University Press Scholarship Online

An empirical law observed by Baron Bode, in the mean distances of the planet. (1834) An empirical law then, is an observed uniformity, presumed to be resolvable into simpler laws, but not yet resolved into them. (Mill 1846) The empirical corroboration of his doctrine by direct experiment. (Buckle 1869) Thus, in the course of the nineteenth century the word empirical started being used without any negative connotations, as in the following collocations: empirical generalizations (1843), empirical methods (1862), empirical corroboration (1869), and indeed, empirical evidence. For example, the brother of scientist John At first, their curative effects had no scientific basis[;] purely empirical criteria prevailed. (opinion of Advocate General Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer, July 10, 2003) (The French version reads: "Au de ́but, leur vertus the ́rapeutiques n'avaient aucun fondement scientifique, des crite `res purement empiriques primaient.") Individual scientists . . . had already realized the importance of the experimental method in science and had achieved isolated successes through its application. But this was a bold new proposal for a concerted attack, on a broad front, to find out how the world worked. In making this proposal, the Gresham group were consciously following the teaching (but not the practice) of the philosopher Francis Bacon, who was no experimental scientist himself but had written influential books promoting the idea of experimental science earlier in the seventeenth century. Acknowledgments 6 Contents 8 PART I INTRODUCTION 12 1 Making the Familiar Look Foreign 14 1.1. Mere Words Or Keys To A Cultural World? 14 1.2. The Cultural And Historical Baggage Of English 15 1.3. The Legacy Of “british Empiricism” 17 1.4. The English Word Empirical and the French Word Empirique 22 1.5. ‘theory’, ‘common Sense’, And The Reliability Of The Senses 24 1.6. Natural Semantic Metalanguage As An Effective Methodology For Cultural Semantics 27 PART II EXPERIENCE AND EVIDENCE 34 2. Experience: An English Keyword and a Key Cultural Theme 36 2.1. The Uniqueness Of The English Concept Of ‘experience’ 36 2.2. Experience As The Mother Of Wisdom: Shakespeare’s Sapiential Perspective 45 2.3. “a Frightening Experience”: From A Retrospective To An Introspective Perspective 49 2.4. Sensory Experience As A Basis For Empirical Knowledge: A Lockean Perspective 55 2.5. The Verb to Experience: Evidence for the Semantic Shift 65 Evidence For The Semantic Shift 65 2.6. ‘experiences’ In Anglophone Philosophy: John Searle’s Perspective 69 2.7. Experience in Religion: William James’s Perspective 76 2.8. “bearing Witness”: Shared Experience In Anglophone Art And History 85 2.9. I Know From Experience 89 2.10. English Experience Compared with German Erfahrung and Erlebnis 94 2.11. Concluding Remarks: The History Of Ideas And The Meaning Of Words 101 3. Evidence: Words, Ideas, and Cultural Practices 105 3.1. Evidence as a Key Cultural Concept in Modern English 105 As A Key Cultural Concept In Modern English 105 3.2. An Outline Of The Semantic History Of Evidence 111 3.3. Linguistic Evidence 130 3.4. The New Discourse Of Evidence 133 3.5. Sources Of The Modern Concepts Of Evidence In Law, Theology, Philosophy, And Science 142 3.6. Concluding Remarks: Semantics, Culture, And Society 155 PART III SENSE 160 4. The Discourse of Sense and the Legacy of “British Empiricism,” 162 5. A Sense of Humor, a Sense of Self, and Similar Expressions 195 6. A Strong Sense, a Deep Sense, and Similar Expressions 223 7 Moral Sense 324 8 Common Sense 339 9. From Having Sense to Making Sense 379 PART IV PHRASEOLOGY, SEMANTICS, AND CORPUS LINGUISTICS 404 10 Investigating English Phraseology with Two Tools: NSM and Google 406 Notes 418 References 428 Appendix 442 Index 452 Experience,Evidence,and Sense This Book Is Based On Two Ideas: First, That Any Language-english No Less Than Any Other-represents A Universe Of Meaning, Shaped By The History And Experience Of The Men And Women Who Have Created It; Second, That In Any Language Certain Culture-specific Words Act As Linchpins For Whole Networks Of Meanings, And That Penetrating The Meanings Of Those Key Words Can Therefore Open Our Eyes To An Entire Cultural Universe. In This Book Anna Wierzbicka Demonstrates That Three Uniquely English Words-experience, Evidence, And Sense-are Exactly Such Linchpins. Using A Rigorous Plain Language Approach To Meaning Analysis, She Unpacks The Dense Cultural Meanings Of These Key Words, Disentangles Their Multiple Meanings, And Traces Their Origins Back To The Tradition Of British Empiricism. In So Doing She Reveals Much About Cultural Attitudes Embedded Not Only In British And American English, But Also Other Global Varieties Of English. An Interdisciplinary Work, Experience, Evidence, And Sense Is Accessible To Both Scholars And Students In Linguistics And English, As Well As Historians Of Ideas, Sociologists, Anthropologists, Literary Scholars, And Scholars Of Communication. Pt. 1. Introduction -- Making The Familiar Look Foreign -- Pt. 2. Experience And Evidence -- Experience : An English Keyword And A Key Cultural Theme -- Evidence : Words, Ideas, And Cultural Practices -- Pt. 3. Sense -- The Discourse Of Sense And The Legacy Of British Empiricism -- A Sense Of Humor, A Sense Of Self, And Similar Expressions -- A Strong Sense, A Deep Sense, And Similar Expressions -- Moral Sense -- Common Sense -- From Having Sense To Making Sense -- Pt. 4. Phraseology, Semantics And Corpus Linguistics -- Investigating English Phraseology With Two Tools : Nsm And Google. Anna Wierzbicka. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. This book is based on two ideas: first, that any language--English no less than any other-represents a universe of meaning, shaped by the history and experience of the men and women who have created it, and second, that in any language certain culture--specific words act as linchpins for whole networks of meanings, and that penetrating the meanings of those key words can therefore open our eyes to an entire cultural universe. In this book Anna Wierzbicka demonstrates that three uniquely English words--evidence, experience, and sense--are exactly such linchpins. Using a rigorous plain language approach to meaning analysis, she unpacks the dense cultural meanings of these key words, disentangles their multiple meanings, and traces their origins back to the tradition of British empiricism. In so doing she reveals much about cultural attitudes embedded not only in British and American English, but also English as a global language. An interdisciplinary work, Experience, Evidence, and Sense will be of interest to both scholars and students in linguistics and English, as well as historians of ideas, sociologists, anthropologists, literary scholars, and scholars of communication. PART I. INTRODUCTION Making the familiar look foreign PART II. EXPERIENCE AND EVIDENCE Experience: an English key word and cultural theme Evidence: words, ideas, and cultural practices PART III. SENSE The discourse of sense and the legacy of "British Empiricism" A sense of humor, a sense of self and similar expressions A strong sense, a deep sense and similar expressions Moral sense Common sense From having sense to making sense PART IV. PHRASEOLOGY, SEMANTICS AND CORPUS LINGUISTICS Investigating English phraseology with two tools: NSM and Google Notes References Appendix Index