Description:
This article reviews, very positively, Michael Forster’s (2010) After Herder: Philosophy of Language in the German Tradition. The review canvasses Herder’s views on philosophy of language, as explained by Forster, with special emphasis on what Herder can teach contemporary pragmaticians. These key lessons are: i) that meaning is intimately related to sensation; ii) that thought is intimately related to language; iii) that meaning is intimately related to use. It ends with some reflections on empirical obstacles that Herder’s views seem to face.