Functionalism and Fin de Siècle

This book investigates the application of Fritz Mauthner's theories of language to the work of leading scientists and humanists of his day (principally the Neogrammarians Paul, Osthoff, and Brugmann, and the physicist Ernst Mach) in order to develop a model under- lying literary and scientific reforms of the period.
Part I assesses the main thrust of Mauthner's critique, an exposi- tion of the fashion in which language impinges on data.
Following Mauthner to his acknowledged sources, Part II of the study treats programmatic statements of Mach, Droysen, and the Neo- grammarians.