The language of touch

philosophical examinations in linguistics and haptic studies

Mirt Komel

Bloomsbury

2019

Abstract

Offering an in-depth analysis of the relationship between touch and language through the history of philosophy, this book revitalizes the field of haptic studies, providing new insights into the philosophy of language and ontological nature of touch. The Language of Touch draws together an international team of linguists, anthropologists, and philosophers to demonstrate from a variety of disciplinary perspectives that the experience of touch is inextricable from the structure of language. Examining the intersections between phenomenology of touch and poststructural linguistics, this work draws upon figures such as Marx, Merleau-Ponty, Nancy, Derrida, and Lacan to question both how language structures touch and how touch structures language.

Cited authors

Merleau-Ponty Maurice