Abstract

We owe to French psychologist Victor Egger (1848-1909) the fundamental distinction between inner and external word. In his book "La parole intérieure" (1881) Egger describes the polyphony of inner word, whose persistent dialogic activity constitutes the spontaneous synthesis of states of consciousness and forms the basis of the spoken word. On this basis, avoiding any individualistic reductionism, Egger interprets the inner language as the first form of social recognition.