Philosophy Of Language Quotes

“Language as a Prison

The Philippines did have a written language before the Spanish colonists arrived, contrary to what many of those colonists subsequently claimed. However, it was a language that some theorists believe was mainly used as a mnemonic device for epic poems. There was simply no need for a European-style written language in a decentralized land of small seaside fishing villages that were largely self-sufficient.

One theory regarding language is that it is primarily a useful tool born out of a need for control. In this theory written language was needed once top-down administration of small towns and villages came into being. Once there were bosses there arose a need for written language. The rise of the great metropolises of Ur and Babylon made a common written language an absolute necessity—but it was only a tool for the administrators. Administrators and rulers needed to keep records and know names— who had rented which plot of land, how many crops did they sell, how many fish did they catch, how many children do they have, how many water buffalo? More important, how much then do they owe me? In this account of the rise of written language, naming and accounting seem to be language's primary "civilizing" function. Language and number are also handy for keeping track of the movement of heavenly bodies, crop yields, and flood cycles. Naturally, a version of local oral languages was eventually translated into symbols as well, and nonadministrative words, the words of epic oral poets, sort of went along for the ride, according to this version.

What's amazing to me is that if we accept this idea, then what may have begun as an instrument of social and economic control has now been internalized by us as a mark of being civilized. As if being controlled were, by inference, seen as a good thing, and to proudly wear the badge of this agent of control—to be able to read and write—makes us better, superior, more advanced. We have turned an object of our own oppression into something we now think of as virtuous. Perfect! We accept written language as something so essential to how we live and get along in the world that we feel and recognize its presence as an exclusively positive thing, a sign of enlightenment. We've come to love the chains that bind us, that control us, for we believe that they are us (161-2).”
― David Byrne, Bicycle Diaries

“Don’t be afraid of a little metaphor; it won’t bite you, but you should always make sure you know how to cash it in for unvarnished fact when you feel the urge.”
― Daniel C. Dennett, From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds

“Now (obviously) a sentence’s truth—even when we hold the sentence’s meaning fixed—depends on which world we are considering. “Brown is Prime Minister” is true in the actual world but, since Brown need not have been Prime Minister, there are countless worlds in which “Brown is Prime Minister” is false: in those worlds, Brown did not succeed Tony Blair, or never went into politics, or never even existed. And in some other worlds, someone else is Prime Minister — David Cameron, P. F. Strawson, me, Madonna, or Daffy Duck. In still others, there is no such office as Prime Minister, or not even a Britain; and so on and so forth. So a given sentence or proposition varies its truth-value from world to world.”
― William G. Lycan, Philosophy of Language: A Contemporary Introduction

“The world of physics is essentially the real world construed by mathematical abstractions, and the world of sense is the real world construed by the abstractions which the sense-organs immediately furnish. To suppose that the "material mode" is a primitive and groping attempt at physical conception is a fatal error in epistemology.”
― Susanne K. Langer, Philosophy in a New Key: A Study in the Symbolism of Reason, Rite, and Art

“In philosophy we must always resist the temptation of hitting on an answer to the question how we can define such-and-such a notion, an answer which supplies a smooth and elegant definition which entirely ignores the purpose which we originially wanted the notion for.”
― Michael Dummett, Frege: Philosophy of Language

“Language is partly something originally given, partly that which develops freely. And just as the individual... can never reach the point at which he becomes absolutely independent ... so too with language.”
― Soren Kierkegaard

“It is a tragicomic fact that our proper upbringing has become an ally of the secret police. (...) The "Tell the truth!" imperative drummed into us so automatically that we feel ashamed of lying even to a secret policeman.”
― Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

“The Vedic viewpoint presents a type of linguistic realism in which reality is the 'text' which is being processed by the observer. Reality can also be modified by adding text to it similar to how a programmer programs a computer by inputting a computer program.”
― Ashish Dalela, Is the Apple Really Red?: 10 Essays on Science and Religion

“A universe of classical particles is devoid of knowledge because the universe can only be itself and not a representation of something else. If the universe was only composed of classical particles, then there would only be physical properties but no meanings. The idea that we can have information about an object without becoming that object is central to all knowledge.”
― Ashish Dalela, Quantum Meaning: A Semantic Interpretation of Quantum Theory

“Cognitively, grasp of just one concept is the sound of one hand clapping.”
― Robert B. Brandom, Articulating Reasons: An Introduction to Inferentialism

“In philosophy we must always resist the temptation of hitting on an answer to the question how we can define such-and-such a notion, an answer which supplies a smooth and elegant definition which entirely ignores the purpose which we originally wanted the notion for.”
― Michael Dummett, Frege: Philosophy of Language

“Apinamies ikävystytti minua loppujen lopuksi. Se oletti olevansa viiden sormensa ansiosta minun vertaiseni ja lörpötteli minulle kaiken aikaa mitä joutavinta soopaa. Yksi puoli siinä huvitti minua hieman: sillä oli loistava kyky muodostaa uusia sanoja. Se luullakseni uskoi, että mitääntarkoittamattomien sanojen lörpöttely ilmensi puheen syvintä olemusta. Hän kutsui sitä ”isoksi ajatteluksi”, vastakohdaksi ”pienelle ajattelulle” – tavallisten arkisten asioiden käsittelylle. Aina kun lausuin jotain, mitä se ei ymmärtänyt, se ylisti minua vuolaasti, pyysi minua toistamaan sen, opetteli ulkoa ja hoki sitä uudestaan ja uudestaan – pari sanaa väärin siellä täällä – kaikille säyseimmille eläinihmisille. Mitään selkeää ja ymmärrettävää se ei pitänyt missään arvossa. Kehittelin jonkin verran varsin erikoista ”isoa ajattelua” varta vasten apinamiehen käyttöön. Uskon nyt, että se oli älyttömin otus, minkä olen nähnyt; sille oli sille oli kehittynyt mitä mainioin inhimillisen typeryyden asteikko, ilman että se oli menettänyt hitustakaan apinan luontaisesta päättömyydestä.”
― H.G. Wells

“მასთან თუ ვარ, ვჩუმდები, რადგან ყველაზე პატარა სიტყვები: ჰო, ახლავე, ასე, და, მაგრამ, მერე, ვაი! - ძალიან დატვირთულია, ივანისთვის ასმაგი მნიშვნელობით ითქმის, ათასჯერ უფრო მეტი მნიშვნელობა აქვს, ვიდრე სიტყვიერ პაექრობებს, სახალისო ამბებს თუ ანეგდოტებს, რომლებიც ჩემგან მეგობრებს ან სხვა ადამიანებს სმენიათ, და ჟესტებს, კაპრიზებს, მოჩვენებით საქციელებს, რადგან ივანისთვის მოსაჩენებელი არაფერი მაქვს, არაფერს ვაკეთებ თავის მოსაჩვენებლად.”
― Ingeborg Bachmann

“The telegram "GRANDMOTHER DEAD FUNERAL WEDNESDAY" can be translated into any language you like—from Latin and Hindustani to the dialects of the Apaches, Eskimos, or the tribe of Dobu. We could even do this, no doubt, with the language of the Mousterian period, if we knew it. The reason is that everyone h as a mother, who has a mother; that everyone must die; that the ritualization of the disposing of a corpse is a cultural constant; as is, also, the principle of reckoning time. But beings that are unisexual would not know the distinction between mother and father, and those that divide like amoebas would be unable to form the idea even of a unisexual parent. The meanings of "grandmother" thus could not be conveyed. Beings that do not die (amoebas, dividing, do not die) would be unacquainted with the notion of death and of funerals. They would therefore have to learn about human anatomy, physiology, evolution, history, and customs before they could begin the translation of this telegram that is so clear to us.”
― Stanisław Lem

“There is no event or thing in either animate or inanimate nature that does not in some way partake of language.”
― Walter Benjamin

“Možemo započeti promišljajući o riječima koje su same po sebi previše crno-bijele: ''uspjeh'' ili ''neuspjeh''. Ili ste uspjeh: sveobuhvatna, jedinstvena, u cijelosti dobra stvar, ili ste suprotnost, neuspjeh: sveobuhvatna, jedinstvena, nepromjenjivo loša stvar. Te riječi ne nude nikakvu alternativu ni nešto između. Međutim, u svijetu koji je kompleksan poput našega takva uopćavanja (zapravo, takav neuspjeh u razlikovanju) znak su naivne, priproste, pa čak i zlonamjerne analize. Taj binarni sustav izostavlja iznimno važne stupnjeve i vrijednosne gradacije, a posljedice toga izostavljanja nisu dobre.”
― Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos

“(...), dat alle woorduitingen meer of minder ontwikkelde verbale imperatieven zijn, dat dus toespreken altijd neerkomt op bevelen of bedreigen, en begrijpen op gehoorzamen; (...)”
― L.E.J. Brouwer

“La filosofía intenta llevar al lenguaje contra sí mismo, del mismo modo que lo hace el arte, y por eso mucho se debate sobre el lugar de la filosofía entre la ciencia y el arte”
― Darío Sztajnszrajber, ¿Para qué sirve la filosofía?

“Sign is an arena of class struggle.”
― Valentin Voloshinov, Marxism and the Philosophy of Language

“[O]ur confusion about who we are is certainly related to the fact that we consist of a large set of levels, and we use overlapping language to describe ourselves on all of those levels.”
― Douglas R. Hofstadter, Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

“When I'm dreaming, the French speak German.”
― Lev Roth