The language of the ‘naked facts’: Joseph Priestley and the apocalypse of language

This paper examines the apocalyptic theory of language described in three texts by the British chemist, theologian, and political radical Joseph Priestley. Combining a millennialist view of history with a Lockean conception of language and a republican zeal for liberty, Priestley displaces the Adamic dream of a fully motivated linguistic sign from the beginning of history to its end, predicting that a universal, philosophical language and the truth it would embody will one day arise provided that people are free to express and explore a plurality of views on all subjects. This paper suggests that, in foregrounding the performative dimension of language and presenting language as a process towards full meaningfulness, Priestley’s theory provides speakers with the possibility of contesting and revising received meanings and with them the relations of power and knowledge with which language is coextensive.