The Relationship of Language and Thought to the Enlightenment Arab: An Analytical Study

Abstract

Language is one of the most important characteristics that distinguishes man from other creatures on earth. Since man is the only creature capable of orderly thinking, it was self-evident that language is associated with thought. It is a relationship that was and still represents a fertile field and a wide field for many diverse and multiple researches; Therefore, researchers’ positions and perceptions varied in directing this relationship, which is in fact the result of their different intellectual doctrines and cultural references.

However, this difficulty cannot prevent access to the truth of which of them contributes to the formation of the other. Through this study, we will seek to shed light on the Enlightenment’s linguistic perceptions about the relationship of language to thought, starting with the definition of the term Enlightenment, its concept, and its dimensions among Arab researchers and the West, and with the same effect, the researcher will try to divide the research into three main subjects depending on the positions of the Enlightenment Arab and their intellectual and linguistic perceptions, to reach the new results in this field.