Purification and mediation in the course in general Linguistics (1916) by Ferdinand de Saussure

Abstract

This Scientific Initiation project proposes a study in Linguistic Historiography about the operations of purification and mediation in the epistemology of the Course in general linguistics (1916) by Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), from a theoretical viewpoint essentially anchored on the essay We have never been modern (1991) by Bruno Latour. As one of modern Linguistics' main documents, the Course, apocryphal posthumously edited from students' notes on lectures given by the genebrine master, is one of the black boxes of the field: extremely influential, many of its ideas have become a normal part of the science of language and have extended its reach to all of humanities through the structuralist paradigm, despite its contested origin and authorship and its conceptual fluctuations; thus, to comprehend it, aside from scrutinizing it, it is necessary to study it in its production and reception contexts. Basing itself, also, on the Writings in general linguistics (2002), a collection of manuscripts that have opened an historical debate about a "pseudo De Saussure", mediated by the editors, and an "authentic De Saussure", in its pure form, this research aims to combine an analysis of aspects of this external history to the internal organization of the Course, emphasizing the Linguistic theorization that it contains, in order to comprehend the modern foundations that seem to have molded the field to this day, both in its autonomization and in its interdisciplinarity. It is intended, internally, to complement the narrative about De Saussure's purifier face, that seems to have permeated the reception of the Course, with its mediator face, often less highlighted, and to evaluate, from an external point of view, to which aspirations of an intellectual zeitgeist these interpretations may have served. (AU)