Abstract

The starting point of this study is Rousseau's contention that the first word which man would have spoken must have been something like „aimez moi”. According to Rousseau language is a powerful instrument of desire. In order to acquire greater clarity of this relationship between language, power and desire an analysis of a text by Gorgias of Leontini, Encomium Helenae, is given. The philosophy of language in this sophist is then extensively gone into. Much attention is payed to the place of man in speaking. The whole thesis has it then that the place of man is an effect of speaking, which has a power over man. From this power man can never completely escape, but it can be rendered harmless to some degree