In this paper the foundation of language and of the subject-speaker in the Essay Concerning Human Understanding, by John Locke, is analyzed. In this work, we discuss the formulation of the notion of language as a universal space, aiming at communication and social functioning, and of the notion of subject-speaker as an individual in control of discourse and as the locus of linguistic change. The opposition is observed between Locke’s ontology and the social ontology of language identified by Marx and Engels in The German Ideology. The paper also correlates Locke’s foundation of language and of the subject to modern politics and science. Finally, the text links the discussion of ontology of language and of the subject to the contemporary analysis about the dichotomy between scientific universalism and cultural diversity within social sciences and humanities, and the possible contributions of marxist discourse analysis to this debate.
Ontology; Epistemology; Historicity; Language; Universalism