Readers or listeners who are unaware of the purposeful employment of connotative differences can easily become predisposed by messages that contain a clear slant and viewpoint. Especially for the young and naïve, subliminal messages can result in permanent stereotyping. For instance, many fairy tales and children’s stories contain characters with personality traits that cause listeners to continue to identify specific characters with specific traits. When I was a young child, I was introduced to the story of The Three Little Pigs. Looking back, I suspect that I subconsciously concluded that the big, sly character is evil and a failure whereas the little ones who have safety in numbers are good and triumphant. This representation of the wolf made him an easy target as the antagonist in other stories to come.
Although fairy tales do not generally form the foundation of one’s values, beliefs, and viewpoint of the world, many of these concepts are still learned in childhood. In addition to thinking that words are treacherous, Sartre also believed that one’s personality and being are shaped by words. Generally, the first words that an infant hears originate from his or her parents. As the child grows older, continuing to speak to him or her allows the development of a sense of self. As mentioned in a class discussion, children who have been told by their parents that they are invaluable and worthy of unconditional love are likely to have high self-esteem and confidence, whereas children who have been neglected or verbally abused are prone to have low self-confidence and respond badly to criticism.
Along with the development of a sense of self comes the growth of a sense of ethics. Although learning the difference between right and wrong is frequently manifested through a material rewards-and-punishment system, it is the maturity of self-esteem and ethics that becomes a pair of glasses through which one filters life. In the short term, this filter impacts one’s acquisition of knowledge. However, in the case of an author, a journalist, a storyteller or a record-keeper – in short, any individual who uses words to leave a memory of his or her life – these filters ultimately effect how future generations see the past.
When historians study the past, their only tools are the surviving memories of someone else’s perceptions. Whether this takes the form of a documentary, a newspaper, a song or an interview, historians have no choice but to accept as valid the information that they are given. From the data gathered, the historian then formulates a theory that, if deemed reasonable and true by a collective group, is reproduced and repeated to students and scholars that follow. This “truth” is swiftly proliferated and soon becomes an influencing factor of the development of another historian’s research –unless the initial data was biased or incomplete, causing the production of a one-sided opinion, rather than a true statement.
This gap between veracity and the documentation of this veracity increases as the initial scene, then the interpretation of the initial scene and then the interpretation of the interpretation are altered through the filters of perception, memory and imagination of each analyst, commencing with the one who was at the event. As I sit down to write a dissertation on the life of Jiang Jieshi based on solely Taiwanese sources, my essay would be expected to portray a glorified biography of this Guomingdang party leader as opposed to the case were I to use documents provided mainly by the Chinese government.
Such is the circumstance for many historical events. Due to insufficient resources to piece together a relatively complete representation of past occurrences, a variety of communities and events have been misunderstood. For example, the Vikings, according to the monks whom they pillaged, were brutish, unclean and uncouth, and women, according to the male writers during patriarchal times, were untrustworthy and foolish. Even in today’s modern society, words are being used in the news to deceive and mislead listeners and viewers.
Up to this point, the Areas of Knowledge upon which I have touched have demonstrated the extent of trickery and reliance associated with words. However, in the realm of mathematics and natural sciences humanities there is not, like for the humanities, as heavy a dependence on language and words. Whether in English, French, Japanese, Singhalese, Norwegian or Arabic, as long as the real number system is being employed, the answer to 2+2 will eternally be 4, and the response to 5² will always be 25. Although the spelling of numbers may differ with the language – ‘one’ versus ‘1’ – the second type of documentation is globally understood.
This international form of recording numbers stretches also into the natural sciences, many parts of which, such as physics, are aspects of applied mathematics. Regardless the language in which the equation is being done, energy will be equivalent to the mass of the object in question multiplied by the speed of light squared. Or, more simply put, E=mc². And in chemistry, the first element on the periodic table will remain hydrogen and the eighth element will be oxygen; two of the first element plus one of the eighth will combine to form water, also known as H2O.
The other uniqueness of mathematics and natural sciences lies in the fact that they can continually be tested for validity. My Science textbook can say that mixing baking soda with vinegar will produce a violent fizzing reaction. If I doubt my textbook, I can attempt the experiment myself. However, when History texts say that Joan of Arc heard the voices of angels from Heaven, I have no means to test that statement other than verifying with another authority.
Nevertheless, language-specific words are still necessary in the Area of Knowledge of mathematics and natural sciences in that the formulae and concepts need to be explained so that students can comprehend. If the world’s scientists kept all their scientific knowledge within their own group, this knowledge would be useful for the rest of the world up until the day that these individuals pass away. Once they are no longer available to explain their concepts and discoveries, all the progress that they may have made is lost because someone else will be obliged to make a re-discovery.
In some ways, words are more treacherous and powerful than I had thought. However, words are essential in the acquisition of Knowledge and it is impossible to accurately or logically use words to describe or investigate the use of words. Even in the opinion of Zen Buddhism, a philosophy that has attached great importance to silence, words are necessary to convey knowledge. Treacherous and deceitful as words may be, there is no alternative to gain or record knowledge, and without a database of accumulated knowledge, the quantity of information in the Areas of Knowledge diminishes with the parting of each soul. As of today’s level of knowledge, deceitful and misleading as words may be, there is no choice but to use them.
Works Cited:
Irwin, William, et al. The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D’Oh! of Homer.
« Language. » The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of Quotations. Springfield: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1992.
« Word. » The New Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Springfield: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1992.
