Chapters 1-4 in Language in Though and Action

Chapter 1:

I found this chapter and the conclusions it made about the human beings superior development of language to be very interesting. The following quote caught my eye more so then other parts of the chapter:

“Instead of remaining helpless because of limitations of their own experience and knowledge, instead of having to rediscover what others have already discovered, instead of exploring the false trails others have explored and repeating their errors, they can go on from where others left off.”

I liked this quote because I think as a linguistically developed species; we take for granted our ability to communicate feelings and experiences. This quote made me think about how different human beings would be without the use of language and the ability to share stories and experiences with others, whether they were recommendations or warnings. Communicating our experiences and knowledge with others is in many ways the root of our survival, just as this chapter correlates language and survival of the fittest. Language has evolved, and engrained itself as a necessity for human survival over time.

It is interesting also to think about other species and their lack of both written and social language. The development of language really does seem to be what has put the human race a step in front of all other species over the course of time in which we evolved.

Chapter 2:

It is interesting to think about the fact that symbolic elements are unique only to the human race, and that animals are not capable of making any kind of symbolic connections. The first section of the chapter talks about the fact that animals can tell what something is but not what it stands for. How is this something that we can prove? We don’t really know what kinds of connections animals are making in their heads. Because of language we can communicate the connections we make, but animals cannot.

I was drawn to the discussion of how strongly we as a people embrace symbolism.
“The not so wealthy imitate these symbols of wealth; symbolize their conviction that, even if they do work for a living, they are just as good as anybody else.”
This is so true. People feel a need to fit a certain label, because of the way certain clothes, life styles, behaviors or beliefs symbolize superiority. We have made our society this way. I don’t think there is anything wrong with it, but if you want to fit the mold of success, there is no escaping the want to emulate these things. As society becomes increasingly technological, with cell phones, cars etc, you see even more of this imitation.

Chapter 3:

Reports are verifiable. What is considered acceptable means of proving that something is verifiable? Aren’t we just using more reports to verify the ideas for our reports in most cases? …and at some point wasn’t everything written down based off of an inference to a certain degree, since there had to be an initial discovery of every verifiable subject?

Before reading this chapter, I had never seen reaction related words (so called snarl-words and purr-words) be analyzed. It is interesting to compare the things we say without thinking, to the growling or purring of an animal.

Thinking about one’s own bias:
“The individual with genuine skill in writing-and in thinking-can with imagination and insight look at the same subject with many points of view.”
This is so true. For me, it is very hard to respect the writing of an extremely biased author, whether or not I agree with them. Using insight to cover all the bases and points of view on a topic is much more interesting and believable reading. Being able to try an find understanding in what you are biased against will produce better writing, because it shows your ability to think outside of your bubble.
It makes the author appear to be more cultured, experienced and more educated in my opinion.

Chapter 4:

It is fascinating to realize that if we don’t know what a certain word means, we can listen to the words surrounding it in the sentence to try and uncover its meaning. It is a process that we don’t even notice ourselves using, and we probably do this more often when than we think.

“The context of each word is collected, along with the word itself”.
This part of the reading caught my eye because it is very true. The context in which we use a certain word says a lot about the message we are really trying to get across whether or not the word is even the main idea. The context in which we say things is even more important than the words we use. I think this is a good point on the subject of language, writing, and what we take from the literature we read in this class and in our lives.