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Is language used to label thoughts or are thoughts molded by the formation of language?
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| Submitted: Thu Jul 11 2002
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Benjamin Meza Period 7 11/05/01 Topic #2: To what extent do the names and labels we use in the pursuit of knowledge affect the conclusions we reach? Is language used to label thoughts or are thoughts molded by the formation of language? In the pursuit of knowledge we formulate our ideas by attaching names and labels to the thoughts we conceive. This dependence on language is common to both thought and communication. As a form of communication, language is restricted to those universal terms, which can be understood by all people in their limited scope of perception. Therefore, a precipice is reached where the limitations of language affect formulated concepts, confining them to the minute window of understanding which all humans share. George Steiner explained it best when he wrote: "Language can only deal meaningfully with a special, restricted segment of reality. The rest, and it is presumably the much larger part, is silence."1...
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