One Language, One World: The Common Measure of Education

Abstract

The central concern of this paper is with the possibility and the problems of there being a common world language, and with the relation of this question to culture and education. The paper begins with a question posed by Hilary Putnam relating to the credibility of Enlightenment values after the Holocaust, but it takes up a seemingly minor aspect of his discussion in order to enter into an extended exploration of questions of language and meaning. This is achieved via a discussion, in the light of a paper by Jacques Derrida, of a letter on the subject of language sent by Gershom Scholem to Franz Rosenzweig. The deconstruction that Derrida's reading achieves is considered as potentially offering a retrieval of the Enlightenment values that Putnam seeks. The particular status of English as a world language is considered in relation to the idea of one language, one world, while some ramifications of such homogenization are briefly explored.