When we communicate, we are playing a kind of language game that has rules, some that can easily be broken and others not so effectively; this is also true when we think, because when we think, we think in language. So it stands (or runs?) to reason: the stronger our vocabulary and familiarity with an array of ideas, the more sophisticated our thinking can be. True, false or unknowable?
Translating across languages is a joyful if sometimes complicated process. It enriches our imaginations by drawing attention to various things like expressions, practices and beliefs, and to the mysteries of language itself. This may be equally true in communicating between people of the same or different cultures, especially because there are many variables in outlook derived from life experience, age and educational differences, socio-economic class, gender, race, religion, creed, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socialization/socialisation, health, Zeitgeist (Spirit of the Times) and God knows what else.
All this leads into having just finished A.C. Grayling's Wittgenstein: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2001). Some choice samples to follow in the next post.
Today's Rune: Gateway.
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