Research and outputs
Two books, three articles, one sourcebook already on the shelf.
Existing foundations
Sourcebook in the History of Philosophy of Language (Springer, 2017). Edited by Margaret Cameron, Benjamin Hill and Robert Stainton. Just over 1,100 pages of essential primary sources in English translation, running from the Ancient Greeks into the nineteenth century. It is the departure point for the planned books.
Linguistic Content: New Essays on the History of Philosophy of Language (Oxford University Press, 2015). Edited by Margaret Cameron and Robert Stainton.
Hill and Stainton have also co-written book reviews on the history of philosophy of language (2024 and 2025).
Planned books
Introducing the History of Western Philosophy of Language
A narrative of the trends and countertrends in the first 2,300 years, organized around meaning, mind–language–world relations and the metaphysics of languages, and tracing the semiotic tradition from Aristotle onward. Written for non-specialists.
Episodes in the History of Philosophy of Language: Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern
Roughly a dozen thinkers in four sections (Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern, pre-Fregean nineteenth century), each approached through their own concerns and then through the questions they raise for philosophy of language today. Designed to work as an advanced undergraduate text.
Planned articles
At least three journal articles on the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, all in open access, using the contextualized-reconstruction framework:
- Varieties of meaning in the Early Modern period.
- The “semiotic triangle” of mind, word and reality as the Early Moderns understood it.
- What metaphysical category languages belong to: concrete and physical, mental, or abstract?
Joint works by Hill and Stainton list authors alphabetically, with equal responsibility. Collaborators will also contribute to the articles and may write their own pieces on details of the history.
Looking beyond the grant
The team hopes in a “Phase Two” to create an international society devoted to the history of Western philosophy of language, meeting annually and perhaps eventually with its own journal. No funding is being requested for this.
HOWPOL, Western University, London, Ontario · Benjamin Hill bhill28@uwo.ca · Robert Stainton rstainto@uwo.ca
