Content
The fictional classification of animals is described by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges in the story-essay "The analytical language of John Wilkins " [1] . Borges mentions "a certain Chinese encyclopedia" called "Divine repository of beneficial knowledge" [2] [3] (as used in "Emporio celestial de conocimientos benévolos" ), according to which animals are divided into:
- a) belonging to the Emperor,
- b) embalmed,
- c) tamed
- d) milk pigs,
- e) sirens
- f) fabulous
- g) stray dogs,
- h) included in this classification,
- i) running like crazy
- k) countless
- l) drawn with the finest camel hair brush,
- m) other
- m) smashed a flower vase,
- o) similar to a distance of flies.
Reaction to the list
This list, the discovery of which Borges attributes to Franz Kuhn , gave rise to many philosophical and literary interpretations.
Michel Foucault begins the preface to the book “ ” [4] with the words:
This book is brought to life by one of the works of Borges. More precisely - laughter, sounded under the influence of his reading, laughter, which shakes all the habits of our thinking - our epoch and geography - and shakes all the coordinates and planes, arranging for us a great variety of beings, resulting in the loss of stability and reliability of our thousand-year experience of the identical and Other
suggested, in response to the classification of Borges, that such a “Chinese” judgment demonstrates the symptoms of typical schizophrenic thinking [5] .
Famous linguist George Lakoff , on the contrary, pointed out that the list resembles some classifications existing in cultures other than western [2] .
Authorship
Researchers dispute the accuracy of assigning the list to Franz Kuhn . Although Franz Kun did translate Chinese literature, Borges’s works often contain many supposedly explored references, which confuse fact and fiction. To date, no evidence of the existence of a list has been found [6] .
The Australian historian cited as a sign of the decline of the western educational system the fact that the credibility of the authorship of the list is taken for granted by many university professors [7] .
See also
- Scientific classification of species
- Facet classification
- An experience of authentic symbolism and philosophical language
- Book of fictional creatures
Notes
- ↑ Borges, Jorge Luis. Analytical language of John Wilkins. // New investigations = isp. El idioma analítico de John Wilkins // Otras inquisiciones / Lysenko, Evgenia Mikhailovna (translation). - 1952. - ISBN 583010086X , ISBN 5-8301-0190-4 .
- ↑ 1 2 Lakoff, George . Women, fire and dangerous things: What categories of language tell us about thinking = Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal About the Mind / Shatunovsky, Ilya Borisovich (translated from English). - M .: Languages of Slavic culture, 2004. - p. 129. - 792 p. - ISBN 5944571292 . - ISBN 9785944571298 .
- ↑ The name is translated by Ilya Shatunovsky. In the translation of Evgenia Lysenko - "Heavenly empire of beneficent knowledge."
- ↑ Foucault Michel. Words and things. Archeology of the humanities = Fr. Les mots et les choses , translated from Vizgin V.P. - 1966. - ISBN 5-85962-021-7 .
- ↑ Sass Louis. Madness and Modernism: Insanity in the Light of Modern Art, Literature and Thought. - Harvard University Press, 1994 (1992). - ISBN 0-674-54137-5 .
- ↑ LINGUIST List 7.1446. Borgesian joke (English) (October 15, 1996). Archived February 13, 2012.
- ↑ Windschuttle Keith. Absolutely Relative Archived March 8, 2005. (eng.) // National Review. - September 15, 1997. - ISSN 0028-0038