Czy znaki kształtują myślenie? Wittgenstein, Derrida i Havelock

Abstrakt

In this article I want to give an answer to the question of whether signs shape our thinking. For this purpose I will analyze some theses of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus in the context of Jacques Derrida’s deconstructionism and Eric Havelock’s anthropological theory of orality. I will show that they talk about hypothetical explanations of the genesis of thinking in the context of the emergence of writing, but do not state anything about the nature of thinking. I defend the following theses: thinking is shaped by the rules and norms expressed in language. The graphic form of a sign shows rules logical norms, norms of action, grammatical rules. Thinking is not reading of the signs but applying the rules inscribed in the signs. It shows up in the logical applications, at the speech level and in rational actions.