Publisher's Synopsis
Language and State: A Theory of the Progress of Civilization argues that the state takes form because of language. This book argues that since humans began to use language, they have been able to create and use media. This media includes humans themselves, materials, human behavior, and their consciousness. Media extends the distance of linguistic communication and then humans form themselves into a large community. This leads to the formation of the state and the dissolution of the tribes. Then, assuming that kinship plays an essential role in the formation of the tribe, language, this book argues, plays a role in the formation of the state. Then linguistic communication structures human interactions in the formation of the state. Humans share information with each other, give interpretations to each other, express attitudes to each other and make promises to each other. They even allow for one person to issue commands to all others. Humans organize the state in various types of linguistic interaction; these types of mutual interaction further create a condition for the formation of the common interest of all: a foundation for the building of the state. Then, humans rationalize the organization of the state in extending the distance of linguistic communication. Humans realize freedom, equality, peace, democracy, and justice in their mutual linguistic interactions. If we suppose that the state is a community of the civilization era, the state realizes the progress of human civilization in extending linguistic communication distance. Language gives origin to the state and sustains the development of the state. Language has presented the whole process of the progress of human civilization. This book is the follow-up to Language and State: An Inquiry into the Progress of Civilization, Revised Edition published in 2017.
