Does the language we learn shape the universe we imagine?

Question

e.g if the language we use is mechanistic,linear,casual we are more likely to see the universe this way.

Answer 1

Your brain is one of the bigger energy users in your body, consuming about 20% of the total base metabolic energy. Make no mistake - thinking is WORK.

It is likewise easily observed that the brain doesn't work if it doesn't have to. Repetitious thoughts and activities are very quickly ceded to parts of the brain to manage without conscious effort. If you doubt that this is so, take a stack of a hundred pages or so, head to a copy machine, and copy each one, a page at a time. Few people get more than twenty pages into a stack before their mind wanders and their hands are doing the work 'automatically'. This can be both a very good thing and a very bad thing.

Most people think in a language. And all languages contain a huge base of implicit assumptions about the universe, how it works, and the types of things within it (you often have to know multiple languages just to see how deep and pervasive these assumptions are). Some languages can embrace some concepts easily, and others much more laboriously.

Put these two concepts together and it seems a pretty straightforward conclusion that based on the language you happen to use for thinking, your brain's efforts to conserve energy will make some thoughts harder than others. This would be a very soft boundary instead of a hard one, but I think it is there nonetheless.

Nor is it the only such boundary. There are cultural influences, environmental ones, and most adults formulate their own versions of values and ethics to colour their many perceptions, thoughts, and actions. These are all things which occasionally require extra work to circumvent. A prudent adult knows this and takes it into account.

For the best of thinkers, the effect language has therefore is little to none. For the worst of thinkers, it can indeed be a much more significant restraint.

Some people have even manufactured languages specifically to guide their thinking. One good example I can think of is 'ithkuil', a language designed for maximum brevity - most words are just a few letters long in ithkuil. According to theory, a person who thought in this language would think FIVE TIMES faster than anyone else. But it is so wickedly complex that there are no fluent speakers.

So it goes.

Answer 2

There's a book called "1984"... very interesting ideas. This book is where the idea of "Big Brother" originated, as well as brainwashing people to the point that they will accept that 2+2=5.....

In the book there is a theory put forth that language does indeed shape people's thoughts. In the book, it's called "new-speak." If something is bad, it is preferred if you use the term "un-good"-- goofy, I know..... The idea is that if there is no word for something, people are less likely to consider it...


"Newspeak" reminds me of the politically correct vocabulary... Although the two are for different reasons... PC was begun to avoid offending, newspeak was begun as a method of control. I question the effectiveness of both.

Answer 3

It must do a little because the universe everyone lives in will be perceived in a different way, and it is through language and symbolism that humans experience and appreciate life? I think that is what habermas says...
and I find that people generally think the way they speak, so a casual speaker is a casual thinker, and probably lives in a casual and reelaxed universe?

Answer 4

One has difficulty even to imagine things that his language does not mention. This is one reason I studied French, German, Chinese and Japanese for a total of 7.5 years at two universities and studied others some too. Yesterday, I met a Korean man and said "Yo bo sei yo". He was surprised that an American knew his language. Studying other languages and cultures has broadened my horizons. My #1 gal now is from Japan. I know her native customs.

Answer 5

I might say learn, I do not attend church as mostly as I must additionally considering wherein I am it is rough to discover a well one. I might advise the New International Version of the Bible so it is a little less complicated to realize. Also, so long as you've Jesus on your center ... that is quite all you want. It's your dating with him that counts, he is aware of your center and is aware of what you want. If you ask him ... he'll aid you discover the understanding you're watching for.

Answer 6

Absolutely. If our language has words only for one, two and "many," we will never grasp the complexities of mathematics, never understand science, never see the beauty and majesty of the swirling galaxies. If our only words for colors are blue, green, red and yellow, how can we appreciate the shimmering colors on the surface of a pond or gaze in rapture at the sunset? If we live in a culture with 29 words for snow, are we not more likely to look on a barren winter landscape and see infinite worlds of frozen delight?