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Article: Words as Things.
- Article from:
- Shakespeare Studies
- Article date:
- January 1, 2000
- Author:
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IS A WORD A THING? It depends, of course, on what is meant by thing. If sensible properties constitute thingness, then a word is certainly a thing. It exists either as a sound to be heard or a mark to be seen. There is a long tradition, however, of denying words the status of things. In the short essay that follows, I will suggest that this tradition begins when words are required to represent things or matter. If words are to give a clear representation of things (empirical or notional), they must forego their own thingness.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Bacon draws a strong line between words and things. To emphasize the inferiority of words to ...