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Alexander Bryan Johnson
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Alexander Bryan Johnson

American philosopher and semanticist
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Born:
May 29, 1786, Gosport, Hampshire, Eng.
Died:
Sept. 9, 1867, Utica, N.Y., U.S. (aged 81)

Alexander Bryan Johnson (born May 29, 1786, Gosport, Hampshire, Eng.—died Sept. 9, 1867, Utica, N.Y., U.S.) was a British-born American philosopher and semanticist who came to the United States as a child of 11 years and made his fortune as a banker in Utica in upstate New York. He also, however, found time to write on a variety of subjects, especially economics, language, and the nature of knowledge.

In his Treatise on Language; or, The Relation Which Words Bear to Things (1836), Johnson asserted that language is “subordinate” to nature because there are not enough words to describe limitless experiences. To reconcile this inconsistency, he devised an operational method of studying the function of language, differentiating its “physical,” “emotional,” and “intellectual” components. He adapted his linguistic theory in writings on politics, economics, and morality. Important works include The Philosophy of Human Knowledge; or, A Treatise on Language (1828) and Religion in Its Relation to the Present Life (1841; 2nd ed. retitled Morality and Manners, 1862). A biographic study is Alexander Bryan Johnson: Philosophical Banker by Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin (1977).

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