 The details of this account of the development of arts are highly debatable, but Condillac thought that on its basis he had been able to explain the reasons for some disputes in art criticism. Whatever worked for an ancient language does not work for a modern language that has shed most of its language of action component. Thus we should not expect modern tragedy in French to replicate modes of expression precisely designed for a more expressive language like that of ancient tragedy. (Essay II.i.3)