Does language restrict logic?

Question

Consider the many different forms of critical thinking and
brain-storming techniques. Most techniques which I
am familiar with are scrawled out in somewhat organized
sections of glyphs and comments; not including essays
because essays are typically written after critical thinking
and brain-storming techniques have been completed(most
essays are usually insightful regarding critical thinking to the
extent that cliff notes might be included).

If language is awkward in explaining logic then what
other mechanisms are available for rationalizing logic?

I am particularly interested in sharing thoughts on subjects
such as superrationality or standardized flexible organization
protocols for brain-storming such as mind-mapping.

"Language limits reality and boxes us into pre-approved concepts...
...Language assists logic in that It simplifies real life things into nouns that can be more easily categorized."

I agree, luckily we can define new
nouns(subjects) and verbs(procedures)
to expand on our repertoire of concepts
in order to better explain logic.

"The flaw is in how we as individuals interpret words. Because language is learned from experience and all our experiences differ from one another we cannot assume that the words or concepts are the exactly the same."

True, this is where glyphs and pictures
can come in handy because the
standard deviation from culture
to culture is lower for visual
information(what can be seen
as explicit visual representations
in the form of a painting of
a scenario) than for differences
in cultural language-grammar.

'And when you consider that we each create our own reality internally(...
...and everything you believe with conviction is ABSOLUTELY TRUE...IN YOUR REALITY,) the problems of working out any problems with logic take on titanic proportions'

This is the essence of the question,
how to transfer the concept which
is conceived in the "mind's eye" to
a static physical representation medium
which has the least loss of potency.
Where language/essay is rigid in
its medium and art/pictures are
flexible in their medium, but language
is usually easier to interpret whereas
art often requires a more intuitive
examination.

Answer 1

Language is an imperfect tool, and YES it can impede the working of logic...
Logic essentially attempts to solve conceptual problems mathematically, the problem is that math is entirely abstract and is only consistent when it follows its own rules (for example, the abstract "numbers" 1+1=2 but the actual visible entities 1 cloud + 1 cloud can = 1 cloud or 6 clouds,) language is a symbolic representation of things and ideas that is subjective because the users of language have their own ideas for what these symbols represent...Subjectivity is the Achilles heel of logic, it MUST start from an objective viewpoint to work...

While I think myself a logical being, I am aware that this is not entirely true...Humans are IRRATIONAL, it is one of our defining characteristics, we do not use a logical process to determine what we want, we want something and then create a "logical excuse" for our behavior. And when you consider that we each create our own reality internally (your personal universe is like a mirror inside your head, complete with "demons" and conceptual "sorceries" that may exist only for you, and everything you believe with conviction is ABSOLUTELY TRUE...IN YOUR REALITY,) the problems of working out any problems with logic take on titanic proportions and I would only feel confident attempting dialectics with those who could appreciate those facts...

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I fear that our only rational approach to the problem of "pure logic," is an acceptance of its impurity...An understanding that it will rarely be absolute, and a skeptical view of views that assert their infallability...Short of inventing a whole new language from the bottom up...Glyphs, I feel are too limited and mind-mapping too far a continent...I think that because (or maybe, in spite) of reality's plasticity, our logic must NOT be confused with the (unreachable(?) ideal of sciences (which are never finished correcting their mistakes either,) but recognized and appreciated as ART...The more beautiful and harmonious the argument, the more symmetrical the answer is to the question...The more [ReAL}, and therefore, correct it is...According to our thinking at the time, and therefore, according to [ReALIty}...

Part of our problem with accepting this idea of undeniable and unsurmountable(?) imperfection is the "granted" idea of the primacy of consciousness, that it is the highest state of being...I disagree with this assumption, consciousness is the best we can do with microscopic fragments of "be-ing" itself, which I can only assume is true, because of the incomplete and derivative nature of my consciousness...

Answer 2

Language by its very nature is different. Take this example from mathematics. 1 (in maths) has one known value. One (in linguistics) can mean a person, a number, a god etc. It would be like trying to mathematically calculate something with 1 having the values of 1, 8, 945 or 2.1 all at the same time. You cannot explain logic with a flawed system. The flaw is in how we as individuals interpret words. Because language is learned from experience and all our experiences differ from one another we cannot assume that the words or concepts are the exactly the same. This is more noticable when talking to people from different cultural backgrounds.

-One mans dictator is another mans king.

Answer 3

Language is the vehicle of logic. It is impossible to be logical about something you have no language for. Language and logic are the function of the left brain, or sequential brain.

However..................

Even in the absence of language, a person will develop their own logic, based on PICTURES, or concepts. This is the product and function of the right brain, or simultaneous brain.
Thus, new langauge is introduced into society, and can then be assessed by the logic function of others.

However.......................

For the pictures or concepts of the right brain to be communicated effectively, to be believable by otheres, they need to be 'felt.' This function is the magic of the very charismatic user of logic.

So good communication uses both logic and imagery. This is why TV has such a major advantage over say radio, or written words.

Logic often fails to communicate the "Picture." When someone is trying to tell me something using logic, and I am not getting the picture, what I am really forming is an 'image' of the speaker rather than his intended logical message.

I'd rather he make sense, than be logical. So 'sense' is more powerful than logic unless both the sender and the receiver speak the same 'language.'

Answer 4

Well-taken indeed.

Yours centers more on the "standardized flexible [...]" than on the superrationality here.

Language -- true Language -- dwells in the no-thing, a realm inconceivably higher than the realm from where logic has its home [but not its point of assembly]... Language Is and knows.

Logic was not born where it dwells but rather, has its abode where it is now commissioned to serve but subject to dissolution once moving above this. Logic cannot exist in realms of the alogical or wherein logic is not the means by which one Knows or Divines what Existence is. Logic is ever remanded to the realm with which so many are familiar and in some measure comfortable, and to which so outrageously many capitulate.

Language -- true Language -- has not barriers or constraints, for the least that it is, is a force comprised of untold numbers of frequencies and signatures, magnitudes, and dimensions, ay, powers, which Live, and which if properly used and performed so by one of certain merit, can create, maintain, or destroy Worlds, literally. Without it, we do not possess or know of anything or wax brilliantly about anything or come to know love -- true love.

There exists few mights and powers so great, as scorchingly and blindingly brilliant as Language -- I say ' True Language,' of which the likes of logic and linguistics are but lesser parts.

Meanwhile, in the lower worlds, we find that words are symbols of divine 'ideas'; and 'numbers,' of divine realities -- both Siblings of language...-- True Language, but in any case, all of whose might and power carry out function and form in the dual worlds, which is to say, the worlds in which creation is finished.

Answer 5

Language limits reality and boxes us into pre-approved concepts. Logic is a binary, yes/no, and/or kind of thing. Language assists logic in that It simplifies real life things into nouns that can be more easily categorized. Language allow us to treat 3 dimensional living things as 2 dimensional words which can be compared and worked using logic.

Answer 6

Language is required to have logic. Mathematic expressions of logic are merely another language used to describe concepts.

Try explaining logic to someone who does not have those words within their language -- say an older or ancient language like that which is spoken by Aborignals in Australia.

Answer 7

Logic is actually ephemeral, it's counterpoint, and based
on a series of very personal edicts. It has no standard and
cannot be explained in any language. Logical conclusions
may be, in fact, prescribed solutions down paths of least
resistance, carved out by those who's imagination is
limited to logic. The moment one subscribes to "protocols
for brain storming", they are closing down the very essence
of true originality.

Answer 8

Being a smart-act, I would answer, "SURE, just talk to anyone who practices Middle Eastern Religion and their off-shoots...there you will find "language [that] restricts logic."

Seriously though, yes it does. I have familiarity with four languages and their Cultures and Countries and each one gives me a different view toward reality.
Thank you for asking this question.

Answer 9

All language is a way of expressing the very complex emotions which our intelligent species experience on a day-to-day basis. The only real logic is the absolute, the truth, which is best expressed by silence.

Answer 10

The best language to express logic is mathematics