Philosophy of Language and History

While Etymology strongly influences Nietzsche, it is no factor in mainstream Philosophy of Language, the typical object of which, for all approaches, is a-historical.  Now, the potential significance of the history of a word lies not merely in its origin, but in the demonstration of the mutability of the Meaning of the word.  That is, Etymology is a reminder that the Present may be no longer like the Past, and, thus, that hitherto shared meanings are always subject to dissociation.  So, in a Philosophy of Language that accommodates diachronic factors, it can be easily recognized that one source of Commonality is shared history, and that an irreducible uncertainty in Communication is the relation of the Present to the Past, e. g.  the assistant in #2 of the Investigations can at any moment decide that he no longer shares a purpose with the builder.  The neglect of such factors is another indication of the relative superficiality of recent a posteriori Philosophy of Language.