Language and Thinking

Believe it or not, language plays a massive role in shaping our minds and thoughts. 

To investigate this, we must first explore the meaning of language, what is it? is it just a means of communication? Well, the basic definition of language is a system of words or signs that people use to express thoughts and feelings to each other. However, I believe that languageis more than what meets the eye. Think of body language, sign language, etc. These are all languages that do not use words nor signs and yet they communicate thoughts and feelings. This is why I have been led to believe that language has no rigid definition and is a more flexible term that can be used to refer to multiple means of interaction.

Then again, I look back and ponder about the theory that language is more than just communication and interaction. Then suddenly it hits me, as I am thinking I realize that I have an inner voice, somewhere I had heard that bilinguals do not possess an inner voice and yet I realize that I think to myself in both of my languages. This is when I began to wonder if there truly was a strong connection between language and the way we think. My first step to discovering more about this relationship was to understand why we even think of an inner voice, and what the language bilinguals speak to themselves in says about the way that person thinks. Well according to Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky, inner speech is developed by the internalization of external speech. However, it has become very difficult – even in recent years – to understand why inner speech occurs and where it stems from due to the inability of capturing the spontaneity of inner speech in a scientific environment. As for what the language of the inner voice is, not much has been proven, although trends have shown that depending on the situation different languages are used. For example, for motivation and logic people often went with a second language or a new language that was learned, however, at times of trouble and bad situations, people would look towards their mother tongue.

While on the topic of bilingualism I wanted to know more about how people see the world depending on the language they speak. Do people that speak different languages inhabit different worlds? It is common knowledge that different languages have words that don’t have translations in other languages or define a phenomenon that is not defined in another language. If someone does not possess the words to describe a concept, will they not have the ability to understand it? For example, a tribe named the Piraha tribe do not have words for colors, or numbers, and when one scientist attempted to teach them how to count, after days of trying they could not understand the concept. On the other hand, in German, there is a word that defines feeling homesick for a place you have never been, which I definitely have felt before. However, I feel that the language we speak can still limit us in this sense as there are things that we feel that we cannot explicitly express in its fullest meaning. This may be one of the most common reasons of misunderstandings or miscommunication.

Languages also play a major role in shaping a person’s identity. this is due to the fact that with language comes the culture, the emotion, and the relationships with people. different languages can produce different meanings within the same context and of course, varying traditions and cultures. A person cannot translate poetry from one language to another - but even on a more relatable level – jokes can also lose their meaning when translated.

Overall I think that I have delved into the study of language and attempted to understand it to my fullest abilities. I think it is safe to conclude by saying that language is definitely not just a means of communication and that it plays a large part in the way we know and think. 

The 5 Senses

Sure, everyone knows the 5 senses; taste, touch, smell, see and hear. But I’m talking about the other 5 senses. I can already feel the disapproving looks as I say these words, but stick with me and you’ll see, I’m actually onto something. For as long as I can remember I have been taught about the basic 5 senses that everyone learns in kindergarten, although recently in TOK I have learned that in addition to this, there are another 5 sense. These include the following:

·       Nociception – the sense towards things that are damaging or harmful

·       Chronoception – sense of time

·       Proprioception – sense of one’s self

·       Equilibrioception – sense of balance

·       Thermoception – sense of temperature

At first, you might think that this is a bunch of nonsense and that there is no true knowledge to support this. However, if you really think about it, you can relate to some of these senses. In my case I was thinking about chronoception – the sense of time – and I remembered a game I would play with either my brother or a friend where we would try to guess the time after a long period of being indoors, without being exposed to any watches or other methods of timekeeping. The remarkable thing was that we were able to gauge the time and guess – relatively accurately – what time it was. The same applies to nociception, proprioception, etc. All of the senses relate to our lives but we usually don’t notice them because of how instinctual they are. 

This really was an eye opener for me to be able to realize how little we really know about the way our own brain functions. this leads me to another article, published in the Guardian which was titled "Memory Contaminates Perception". This article was highly intriguing and discussed how imagery that is retained in the mind can affect visual perceptions. In fact, as the author put it, "our perception of the world is the brain's best guess at what is actually happening, based on the information it receives through the senses". We also know that the brain can sometimes perceive visual information incorrectly as discussed in the previous blog post about optical illusions. so i decided to apply some of the information learned in class about 1st order and 2nd order claims to evaluate the knowledge from this article

1st order claim:
          2nd order claim:

Visual working memory can influence our perceptions
          what we see is not necessarily what everyone else sees or what is actually there

optical illusions are not what they seem
          the perception of the mind can be tricked

how we feel affects what we see and music also affects how we recognize facial expressions.
          perception can be influenced by temporary factors acting on the mind

          

Optical Illusions

Metaphors and Knowledge

What is knowledge? that was what I - in addition to the rest of the class - were greeted with first thing in the morning in TOK. The question seemed simple enough which led me to believe that the answer would be the same. however, as I even began to think of a definition I came to the same conclusion I knew most students were thinking of; knowledge is knowledge. There was no direct way to describe it. That was how our topic for today was introduced....knowledge. we were given a worksheet that discussed the correlation between knowledge and countless other materialistic objects through metaphors. Our task was to take a look at the 6 metaphors provided and find: the benefits or values of this metaphor, and the limitations of the same metaphor in contributing to a definition of what knowledge is. After the brief discussion on our table, we began an activity that consisted of a group of three acting out the metaphor. I found this particularly interesting as it gave us a more visual understanding and interpretation to some of the metaphors. Another bonus was that it was actually fun to act out and enjoy other students acting. Overall I felt that today's topic was interesting and that I was able to fully understand it, well understand it as much as anything can be understood in TOK.