Preview

“All of the Other Ways of Knowing Are Controlled by Language.” What Does This Statement Mean and Do You Think It Is a Fair Representation of the Relationship Between Perception, Emotion, Reason and Language?

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1449 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
“All of the Other Ways of Knowing Are Controlled by Language.” What Does This Statement Mean and Do You Think It Is a Fair Representation of the Relationship Between Perception, Emotion, Reason and Language?
Language is an important method of transmitting knowledge – it is the primary mode of communication, which is used in order to give or receive knowledge. For the purpose of this essay, language will be defined as an agreed method of communication that is either spoken or written, or intentionally transmitted through body language. The word “control”, in the statement above will be treated in the sense of “to regulate” or “to govern”. The statement means that perception, emotion and reason cannot function independently from language. Language plays an integral role in their ability to function. The statement suggests that without language, we would not be able to become aware of something using the senses, we would not be able to experience and express emotion, and we would not be able to reason.
To investigate the relationship between language and the other ways of knowing, I will explore the following knowledge issues. What is the relationship between language and perception and can perception function independently from language? What is the relationship between language and emotion and can emotion function independently from language? What is the relationship between language and reason and can reason function independently from language? Do different languages affect the ways of knowing differently? What is the overall relationship between the ways of knowing? I will examine how each of the other ways of knowing are controlled by language and give counterclaims for how they are not controlled by language. I will also explain my view of the relationship between perception, emotion, reason and language.
Firstly, I will explore the relationship between language and perception. Guy Deutscher gives a claim that supports the idea that language controls perception in his book, “Through the Language Glass” (Bellos, 2010). He claims that the colours people see are limited by their language. An example given is of the ancient Greek poet, Homer, who describes the sea

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Language organizes perception by using symbols. Language is a persuasive tool but can also be misleading and confusing. The most powerful ability of language is to understand and effectively communicate. For example, a prototype of a friend affects how a person judges a particular friend. By placing a person in the friend category, the category will most likely influence us on how we interpret the person and his and/or her communication. If we say something that might sound a little insulting, a friend might see it as teasing but a random person might see it as insulting. Even though that the words don’t change the meaning could be different; depending on how the perception of the words and person speaking. The…

    • 704 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Psy 360

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Language is very complex and the manner at which humans learn language is even more complex. Language is more than just words and with words there are also definitions this paper will explain what language and lexicon is. Language is connected to cognitive functions in so many ways that this is better explained throughout the paper. There are key features in language that is developed during childhood and continues to grow as children get bigger. Language has a structure and processing through four levels. These levels better help humans understand language and communicate to one another. The connections in language processing and cognitive psychology are better understood later on in this paper. First to start off with a better understanding of what language and lexicon is.…

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ant 3620 Notes

    • 7384 Words
    • 30 Pages

    3. Language is a window into the functioning of the shared consciousness of a culture…

    • 7384 Words
    • 30 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Edgar Allan Poe has always had a knack for psychologically freaking his readers out and making them believe everything he is writing. Our job as the reader is to break everything down and look for clues on how he writes. Doppelgangers are excellent clues. These funny little things can be used to make the reader second guess himself and make him wonder if he does actually know what is going on. This essay will outline four different short essays written by Poe, “The Black Cat,” “The Imp of the Perverse,” “Berenice,” and “The Tell Tale Heart” and explain instances of doppelgangers within them.…

    • 1779 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The opioid epidemic. It is deadly and has risen over the past decade or so to become one of the leading causes of death in America. It is an issue that we as nurses are uniquely situated to make a defining impact on. As nurses, it is our duty to educate patients, families, and anybody else we can. It is a nurse’s responsibility to teach the people who we meet about all the ways they can recognize an improperly proscribed pain medication or potential opioid addiction, an overdose, and what to do if they find themselves in a situation where someone is overdosing on an opioid drug.…

    • 434 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Revenge can be a primitive justice. Paying someone back for their harmful actions can feel quite rewarding at times. In “The Cask of Amontillado” written by Edgar Allen Poe, Poe creates a grim and morbid mood to accompany his theme of revenge.…

    • 386 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Coach Purse

    • 352 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Language molds your thinking in a certain way. For example in how language molds your thinking in a certain way, there could be two of the same words but could also have different meaning. Language could also determine your perception. I think the connection between language and perception is very important. How we use language depends on how we perceive it. How we perceive things is shaped by our mind, how it is structured and functions and our experiences. If we have trouble putting our experiences into words, then we might not be communicating the way we really want to. For an example, I think my dads have difficulty relaying his perceptions into sentences or maybe he just has very different perceptions from me because it seems like we are never on the same page. Even if we were to go through the same thing he will always say something completely different than me. Regardless of what he’s…

    • 352 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    We reflect on ourselves in every kind of aspect in our social atmosphere. The way we interact with each other differs from culture to culture. Due to the fact that we may have different values, cultures and views. Language organizes perception by using symbols. Language can be misleading and confusing but at the same time it is a persuasive tool.…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    If asked which cognitive ability you would miss the most if it were taken away, the majority of people would respond with the obvious choices of sight or hearing, but how many people would think about our sense of language? Language affects our lives in ways that we do not often realize. In the essay “How Language Shapes Thought” Lera Boroditsky argues that many of our cognitive abilities are enhanced, or hindered depending on the fundamental structure of our system of language. I found that Boroditsky used much of her own research in order to support her claims that direction, time and gender are concepts largely affected by the structural system of our language. Overall I found Boroditsky’s arguments to be sound and thorough. I agree with her claims that language shapes thought.…

    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Language and Cognition

    • 1135 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Language is considered unique among humans. Language, as defined below, occurs only among the human species and does not exist elsewhere in the animal kingdom. Therefore, the study of how humans learn, process, and create meaning from linguistic utterances and the written word is a central feature of cognitive psychology. The many questions that arise from this line of research include whether language is a separate faculty apart from cognition or if language is a product of our general cognitive abilities (Harris, n. d.). To examine language in the context of cognition, it is necessary to arrive at a working definition of language. From there, it will be possible to examine the relationship between language processing and cognitive psychology.…

    • 1135 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Language is a cognitive function that most of us take for granted. It starts from early on, some say at conception, and it develops in complexity as we get older. It is an essential part of communication and without it its development would be greatly hindered. This natural process requires complex structures and reasoning, the bringing together of sounds and words to develop concrete ideas and thoughts. In this paper we will discuss the components of language and how it relates to cognitive processes.…

    • 1127 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Language and culture plays major role in the perceptual process because what a child learn culture from young will change the way they perceive the world. There are two hundred countries around the world and different countries have different cultures and languages. So do different languages and cultures affect us in the perceptual process? I think the answer will be yes because language affects our perceptual senses. For example, in Korean ‘Apa’ means dad but In Indonesian, it means what. So different languages will have different meaning even though it is same and it will affect our perceptual senses.…

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Language influences thoughts about the real world. We see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because of the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation. The hypothesis can be seen to show that language influences how people categorize their experiences. For example, the Inuit people have many words for “snow”, which causes them to perceive snow differently than those who know only one word. By having more words to define “snow”, it is perceived as a more crucial part of their…

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There have been many studies done on how language shapes the way people think. I must agree with this, because based on past experiences, language has affected the way I thought. Language and culture together, have changed the way humans think, just like it has for me.…

    • 924 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Importance of Language

    • 1238 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The issues concerning language and knowledge call for conscious scrutiny in order to recognize its influence on thought and behavior. In the Arts, for instance, language is completely neccessary to explain the meaning of art to an individual. Essentially, art is all language, just like every other form of knowledge. Art is not possible without some form of symbolism. For example, dance is a great performing art. Body language is a notable form of communication. This means, it is not directly said or even said at all. It is all interpreted from the perspective of the audience. Another example of art would be paintings and photography, also known as symbols that are portrayed for…

    • 1238 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays