A study of culture and society and how they effect each of us.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Where is the edge of language?

Language has an extremely strong effect on our lives. We define ourselves through language, we relate to others through language, and we relate to reality through language. Language effects all of our lives quite completely, but there are weaknesses in any and all languages. The greatest weakness of language is that we think of language as being more complete and accurate than it is, particularly as we are using it. When Wittgenstein said "The meaning of a word is in its use," he was expressing the limits of language. The problem is that we depend on language too much if the language has such weaknesses; and we are not realistically able to give up this dependence.

Since all of our intellectual processes are done in language it is hard to critique language. Language does not reveal its own weaknesses but hides them. We find the weakness by developing one blind alley of logic after another and then doing a review of the process, which is how Wittgenstein developed his famous statement. Kant did a similar thing in Critique of Pure Reason.

We need to understand the limits of language in order to critique language. That is what I mean by the edge of language. Where do we go in order to look at language differently?

Where is the edge of language?