Modus loquendi. Word and communication in Luther

The monograph investigates Martin Luther as a language philosopher from a new perspective. The aim is to show that there is a line of thought going from Renaissance criticism of medieval Aristotelian language-thinking to Philipp Melanchthon and Luther at the time of the Reformation. But at the same time there are also important fundamental divergences between the views of language and communication of truth in the two reformers, going back to differences found in 15th century Renaissance thought. Besides Melanchthon and Luther, key figures in the study are two humanists, the italian Lorenzo Valla and the dutch Rudolph Agricola.