Ludwig Wittgenstein starts his book "Philosophical Investigations" with a quotation from St. Augustine's Confessions, I, 8 that is a description of how children learn language. It is, however, the description of a primitive form of language mainly concerned with naming things around us. Children learn language by naming things by pointing to them and saying their names. It is to be noted here that children learn language not by explanations, but by training in use of language,which has far-reaching consequences in understanding the use of language for conveying meanings. This way language and its use and meaning are being ingrained in children that stand as the foundation for their life-long employment of words meaningfully. One has to keep in mind, however, that meanings are not attached to words like labels nor are the things themselves referred to by the words their meanings. If it were so, we would not have been able to use the same word for many things and many words for the same thing.
Augustine used single words and mostly nouns to explain how the children learn language. However, single words can be used to convey meanings which are complex, if one is trained for it. Examples are how construction workers act correctly on hearing the words like "slab", "pillar". "concrete" etc. by bringing them to the masons and other builders. They know the meanings of those words by correctly reacting to them by carrying those objects to the persons concerned and that means that they know how to use those words under the circumstances. This presupposes a particular kind of training and with a different type of training, results could have been different even if in both cases the method of ostensive teaching was followed. Ostensive teaching is the method used for teaching children the names of things as we have seen above. The reason for this anomaly is that pointing to a thing can mean different things in different situations and circumstances of persons and therefore previous training is a necessity for capturing the right meanings of words. It is immaterial what kind of an image is evoked in one's mind in hearing a word as it does not influence its meaning since meaning is determined by its correct use seen in appropriate actions. Words and their meanings are not isolated parts, but are connected to the whole web of language just as a brake is set up by connecting up rod and lever within a mechanism. In isolation from the mechanism, it is not even a lever, let alone a brake-lever.
As the child's language is expanded to include not only simple nouns, but also words like "there", "this" and numerals etc., the training methods also are expanded. One may think of words like tools in a tool box: hammer. pliers, a saw, a screw-driver, a ruler, a glue-pot, glue, nails, screws etc. Although all of them are called tools, their functions differ and just so the functions of words are diverse. However, in the case of words, their uniform appearance confuses us as their application is not presented to us clearly, especially in Philosophy! Compare words to the handles looking more or less alike in the cabin of a locomotive. The handle of a crank can be moved continuously (regulating the opening of a valve); the handle of a switch has only two effective positions, either on or off; if the handle of a brake-lever is pulled harder, the harder it brakes and the handle of a pump that has an effect only when it is moved to and fro. The words in language too have diverse uses though they look alike or even the same words may be used differently for different purposes. There is no one element in common in the use of those tools and this is true of the words we use in language too. Therefore, it is essential for our understanding to know how words signify something in our language before declaring the meaninglessness of any expression in language.
Some might wonder what is the connection between this kind of analysis of language and the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, our original theme. The connection has to be seen in the contexts of claims by anyone extolling the merits of scientific language as against that of religious language. Our endeavor is to show that scientific language cannot be sealed up in an ivory tower in the face of acute logical observations about the way our language functions that is applicable to scientific language as well as religious language and any employment of words with meaning anywhere. (To be Contd).
Augustine used single words and mostly nouns to explain how the children learn language. However, single words can be used to convey meanings which are complex, if one is trained for it. Examples are how construction workers act correctly on hearing the words like "slab", "pillar". "concrete" etc. by bringing them to the masons and other builders. They know the meanings of those words by correctly reacting to them by carrying those objects to the persons concerned and that means that they know how to use those words under the circumstances. This presupposes a particular kind of training and with a different type of training, results could have been different even if in both cases the method of ostensive teaching was followed. Ostensive teaching is the method used for teaching children the names of things as we have seen above. The reason for this anomaly is that pointing to a thing can mean different things in different situations and circumstances of persons and therefore previous training is a necessity for capturing the right meanings of words. It is immaterial what kind of an image is evoked in one's mind in hearing a word as it does not influence its meaning since meaning is determined by its correct use seen in appropriate actions. Words and their meanings are not isolated parts, but are connected to the whole web of language just as a brake is set up by connecting up rod and lever within a mechanism. In isolation from the mechanism, it is not even a lever, let alone a brake-lever.
As the child's language is expanded to include not only simple nouns, but also words like "there", "this" and numerals etc., the training methods also are expanded. One may think of words like tools in a tool box: hammer. pliers, a saw, a screw-driver, a ruler, a glue-pot, glue, nails, screws etc. Although all of them are called tools, their functions differ and just so the functions of words are diverse. However, in the case of words, their uniform appearance confuses us as their application is not presented to us clearly, especially in Philosophy! Compare words to the handles looking more or less alike in the cabin of a locomotive. The handle of a crank can be moved continuously (regulating the opening of a valve); the handle of a switch has only two effective positions, either on or off; if the handle of a brake-lever is pulled harder, the harder it brakes and the handle of a pump that has an effect only when it is moved to and fro. The words in language too have diverse uses though they look alike or even the same words may be used differently for different purposes. There is no one element in common in the use of those tools and this is true of the words we use in language too. Therefore, it is essential for our understanding to know how words signify something in our language before declaring the meaninglessness of any expression in language.
Some might wonder what is the connection between this kind of analysis of language and the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, our original theme. The connection has to be seen in the contexts of claims by anyone extolling the merits of scientific language as against that of religious language. Our endeavor is to show that scientific language cannot be sealed up in an ivory tower in the face of acute logical observations about the way our language functions that is applicable to scientific language as well as religious language and any employment of words with meaning anywhere. (To be Contd).
No comments:
Post a Comment