Episode #115 - Structuralism and Context
Structuralism and Context
This episode explains a major shift in 20th-century philosophy—from existentialism, which focused on individual freedom, to structuralism, which argues that our thoughts, identities, and actions are shaped by larger cultural and linguistic systems. It introduces Ferdinand de Saussure’s idea that words only gain meaning through their relationship to other words, a concept that spread to fields like history, art, and psychology. Structuralism challenged the belief in total personal freedom and objectivity, showing that much of what we think and do is shaped by the hidden structures of the world we’re born into.
Further Reading:
Ferdinand de Saussure by Jonathan Culler (1986)
Saussure For Beginners by W. Terrence Gordon (2014)
Course in General Linguistics by Ferdinand de Saussure (1916; English edition 2011)
See the full transcript here.
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