Paul Otlet's Theory of Knowledge and Linguistic Objectivism

摘要

In this paper, I point to the importance of an often neglected objectivist strand in Paul Otlet's (1868-1944) thinking: his linguistic objectivism. Linguistic objectivism consists in the view that linguistic atoms uniquely correspond to certain discrete and well-defined elements in the world and further combinations of these linguistic atoms can objectively capture "the order of the world". This analysis tempers some of the past claims on the influence of positivism on Otlet.