Language
PAGE IN PROGRESS
What you see here is a page of my hypertext book Me, Looking for Meaning. Initially empty, it will slowly be filled with thoughts, notes, and quotes. One day, I will use them to write a coherent entry, similar to these completed pages. See this post to better understand my creative process. Thank you for your interest and patience! :)
What you see here is a page of my hypertext book Me, Looking for Meaning. Initially empty, it will slowly be filled with thoughts, notes, and quotes. One day, I will use them to write a coherent entry, similar to these completed pages. See this post to better understand my creative process. Thank you for your interest and patience! :)
Does the language limit what we can think about and experience or it just does not fully express it?
The game I played with myself repeating a word till it seemed meaning less --
Language connected to other sensations
synesthesia
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/01/how-persuade-people-you-dont-agree-with?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Do we speak through language or does language speaks through us? See “The death of the author”
When actors say words that somebody else wrote for them, how can they portray a character without lying? They say words that do not belong to them. But don’t we all do that in a way? We express our ideas using words phrases that we did not create. We just accept their meanings and use them to express ourselves. Same as good actors, we are not liars, but we are also not exactly saying what we are feeling and thinking.
children speak this way to, uttering words they don’t fully understand with total seriousness and commitment. Are adults so different from that? I don’t think so.
have you ever felt that you are dying words that are just handed to you instead of saying what you really mean?
When you are trying to say how you are really feeling, what you are thinking and capture the complexity of your existence, you start talking in a way that nobody understands, like the protagonist of “The Pursuer” by Julio Cortázar. That may explain why some philosophical texts are notoriously difficult to understand for anybody outside of the field. This is what one of my first college professors called “bird language of philosophy “. I did not appreciate it back then but now I am used to it - writing of Foucault.
Gossip theory Robin Dunbar
https://www.rug.nl/research/gelifes/tres/publications/_pdf/sl_eacss09.pdf
German philosopher Ernst Cassirer has said—live in “a new dimension of reality” made possible by the acquisition of a symbolic system (compared to other animals)
"Same story" told with different words is not the same story anymore.
"The medium is the message" McLuhan - you message changes based on words you use (Nonviolent Communication).
Language as a tool that you need to master. Languages as a form of media.
From The Body Keeps the Score: “ language gives us the power to change ourselves and others by communicating our experiences, helping us to define what we know, and finding a common sense of meaning” (end of chapter 2)
Being careful about the language we use: Conscious Style Guide: https://consciousstyleguide.com/young-people-ageist-language
Language we speak rewires our brain: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/brain-wires-native-language-neurons
This connects to broader conversation of how technology affects us. For language is a kind of technology (in the broad sense, technology is a set of tools and techniques). Technology we use does not irreversibly change us, but it leads to certain adjustments in your bodies (including brains). See McLuhan - media/technology as extension of humans.
orwell said: every time you open you mouth you make an impact through the choices of words you make
language can be a very helpful tool IF we see it as arbitrary
if we get too attached to words and lose flexibility (language is just a tool to try to describe reality - it is not reality) than language can become very unhelpful
examples of arbitrariness of language - from We Have No Idea - describing mass, gravity
About this project: Start page
The game I played with myself repeating a word till it seemed meaning less --
Language connected to other sensations
synesthesia
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/01/how-persuade-people-you-dont-agree-with?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Do we speak through language or does language speaks through us? See “The death of the author”
When actors say words that somebody else wrote for them, how can they portray a character without lying? They say words that do not belong to them. But don’t we all do that in a way? We express our ideas using words phrases that we did not create. We just accept their meanings and use them to express ourselves. Same as good actors, we are not liars, but we are also not exactly saying what we are feeling and thinking.
children speak this way to, uttering words they don’t fully understand with total seriousness and commitment. Are adults so different from that? I don’t think so.
have you ever felt that you are dying words that are just handed to you instead of saying what you really mean?
When you are trying to say how you are really feeling, what you are thinking and capture the complexity of your existence, you start talking in a way that nobody understands, like the protagonist of “The Pursuer” by Julio Cortázar. That may explain why some philosophical texts are notoriously difficult to understand for anybody outside of the field. This is what one of my first college professors called “bird language of philosophy “. I did not appreciate it back then but now I am used to it - writing of Foucault.
Gossip theory Robin Dunbar
https://www.rug.nl/research/gelifes/tres/publications/_pdf/sl_eacss09.pdf
German philosopher Ernst Cassirer has said—live in “a new dimension of reality” made possible by the acquisition of a symbolic system (compared to other animals)
"Same story" told with different words is not the same story anymore.
"The medium is the message" McLuhan - you message changes based on words you use (Nonviolent Communication).
Language as a tool that you need to master. Languages as a form of media.
From The Body Keeps the Score: “ language gives us the power to change ourselves and others by communicating our experiences, helping us to define what we know, and finding a common sense of meaning” (end of chapter 2)
Being careful about the language we use: Conscious Style Guide: https://consciousstyleguide.com/young-people-ageist-language
Language we speak rewires our brain: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/brain-wires-native-language-neurons
This connects to broader conversation of how technology affects us. For language is a kind of technology (in the broad sense, technology is a set of tools and techniques). Technology we use does not irreversibly change us, but it leads to certain adjustments in your bodies (including brains). See McLuhan - media/technology as extension of humans.
orwell said: every time you open you mouth you make an impact through the choices of words you make
language can be a very helpful tool IF we see it as arbitrary
if we get too attached to words and lose flexibility (language is just a tool to try to describe reality - it is not reality) than language can become very unhelpful
examples of arbitrariness of language - from We Have No Idea - describing mass, gravity
About this project: Start page
