All of the 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?

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08/03/05                Sarmila Ramalingam

“All of the 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?

        Knowledge by itself involves the use of language, but also a variety of several other issues such as perception, emotion and reason. Due to this reason, it is not fair to state that all the ways of knowing is controlled solely by language. Language, emotion, reason and perception are all dependant on one another so we cannot say that language controls it all. All of the ways of knowing means how we have attained the knowledge we have now. Knowledge can be distinguished into two types; knowledge of things and the knowledge of truth. However, did one attain all their knowledge simply with the use of language? This seems highly impossible as perception, emotion, reason and language are all vital aspects of the knowledge we have today. What about Saphir- Whorf’s theory? His hypothesis concludes that our thoughts are controlled by language. How true is this statement of his when we start pondering the question of our knowledge, linked with reason, emotion, language and perception?

         Emotion cannot be controlled by language, but language is caused by emotion. For example, if a child pricks herself with a needle without the knowledge of the effect it will have, she will only cry after she feels the pain and distress. This shows that the pain and sensed the emotion of distress which she felt, all cause her to use body language and speech by crying out. However, if the stimulus was verbal, emotion is very much controlled by language. This child could not have expressed any pain or distress if she hadn’t screamed or cried, which is using language. This shows that our actions are caused by the emotions in our minds, which in turn uses our knowledge of language to express it. There are such emotions, which cannot be described, as we do not have the knowledge of the language to use. For example, we know that the emotion of sadness had a word, which describes it as sad. This allows us to share this emotion with others around us. However, the impression or concept of this emotion would still remain even though it will not be in the same context.

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  Reason is also related to language but in a different manner. We can reason out a statement and thus come to a conclusion of the statement. The statement has the ability to use the same words, which it then expresses into different thoughts or meanings.  For example, a sarcastic statement such as “It sure is a nice day today,” can either have the exact meaning that it really is a nice day, or it can have a sarcastic meaning that the day’s awful. This is where perception also comes into use. By perceiving the statement when said and analyzing ...

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