“I don’t want just words. If that’s all you have for me, you’d better go.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald Words are weird. That’s basically it. You could stop here if you want. When we define something — an idea or object — we use words. But when we want to define words, we also use words. It becomes meta right away. You’re using the thing itself to define the thing. It might be a different version of the thing, but it’s the same kind of thing.
I looked at the image first and thought that was the end of the article and went back to sleep, then realised after I woke up there's more to read. Oh the irony!!!
I once had a lively discussion with an INTP on how you would define 'left' and 'right' to an alien, who has no concept of any reference points to begin with (eg east / west etc). Then as we went down the rabbit hole of possibilities, it seemed the word 'right' is inherently loaded (as opposed to 'wrong') and left could mean 'leftover' or 'left behind'. Which would explain why not so long ago kids were smacked at school for using their left hand. Brutal!
You might find Ludwig Wittengeinstein's philosophical tractus thought provoking pertaining to the above. He was an INFJ I believe: plenty of NiTi convergence going on. I watched a film once in GCSE English language that explored whether a facility with language was a necessary prerequisite to human consciousness as we know it. Humans have an innate aptitude for learning languages at a young age which starts to tailor off, or at least the ability to be bilingual etc by around the age of 7...I wander what the epigenetic consequences of not nurturing this innate ability would have on our genome as invariably our external environment impacts our neurochemistry & alters our genome. I also have a fascination with how one's perception of reality can be altered relative to language one speaks. For example, Indo European languages diverge greatly from Chinese languages...Does the way we experience and perceive time for example differ widely? I also find it interesting that with regards cognitive types, besides cognitive fluidity and our ability to utilise all the cognitive functions, the way we experience our inner world and external reality can differ greatly from one human being to another. For example, those with an NiTi/TiNi such as the INFJ, ISTP & ENFJ pairing tend to think in monologues of a highly logic form whereas NiFi/FiNi types tend to experience their inner landscape as kaleidoscopic and with a great deal of imagery and symbolism, such as the INTJ & ISFP. Furthermore those with an FiSi feeling pairing have a vivid pictorial element to their feeling function whereas those with an FiNi/NiFi pairing tend to feel emotions as undulating vibes/moods/tones that are more holistic as opposed to concrete in nature. Apologies I guess I've went off on a tangent about meta cognition here! Given our different proclivities on account of our diverse cognition & mother tongue, it does make me wander whether some people gravitate more towards syntactically & lexically expressing themselves in a particular way. I used to think I was stupid when I couldn't quite grasp what someone else was saying whether that be in my education or simply reading a comment on YouTube but I've since grown to understand that people simply have diverse modes of expression in part due to their own unique wiring. It's amazing what we can do with such a 'circular' meta language - ironically our cognition despite this circulatory leads to very diverse experiences and thus modes of expression even within a specific language. I think the goal is to embrace cognitive fluidity/pursue this path as an aid to understand ourselves and others better or at least more holistically.
I feel like I've walked down this path in my mind. Words are simply the organized animal grunting noises that our brains interpret into patterns, which our brains again assign value/meaning from our own individual, subjective experiences. These utterances are given priority in our mind as we explore our universe, as the sounds we make are formed with intent.
My inner 5 year old is precociously reminding me of a line of questioning I would pose myself: what does what mean? What does does mean? What does mean mean? He thought he was real clever when he thought of that.
I looked at the image first and thought that was the end of the article and went back to sleep, then realised after I woke up there's more to read. Oh the irony!!!
I once had a lively discussion with an INTP on how you would define 'left' and 'right' to an alien, who has no concept of any reference points to begin with (eg east / west etc). Then as we went down the rabbit hole of possibilities, it seemed the word 'right' is inherently loaded (as opposed to 'wrong') and left could mean 'leftover' or 'left behind'. Which would explain why not so long ago kids were smacked at school for using their left hand. Brutal!
You might find Ludwig Wittengeinstein's philosophical tractus thought provoking pertaining to the above. He was an INFJ I believe: plenty of NiTi convergence going on. I watched a film once in GCSE English language that explored whether a facility with language was a necessary prerequisite to human consciousness as we know it. Humans have an innate aptitude for learning languages at a young age which starts to tailor off, or at least the ability to be bilingual etc by around the age of 7...I wander what the epigenetic consequences of not nurturing this innate ability would have on our genome as invariably our external environment impacts our neurochemistry & alters our genome. I also have a fascination with how one's perception of reality can be altered relative to language one speaks. For example, Indo European languages diverge greatly from Chinese languages...Does the way we experience and perceive time for example differ widely? I also find it interesting that with regards cognitive types, besides cognitive fluidity and our ability to utilise all the cognitive functions, the way we experience our inner world and external reality can differ greatly from one human being to another. For example, those with an NiTi/TiNi such as the INFJ, ISTP & ENFJ pairing tend to think in monologues of a highly logic form whereas NiFi/FiNi types tend to experience their inner landscape as kaleidoscopic and with a great deal of imagery and symbolism, such as the INTJ & ISFP. Furthermore those with an FiSi feeling pairing have a vivid pictorial element to their feeling function whereas those with an FiNi/NiFi pairing tend to feel emotions as undulating vibes/moods/tones that are more holistic as opposed to concrete in nature. Apologies I guess I've went off on a tangent about meta cognition here! Given our different proclivities on account of our diverse cognition & mother tongue, it does make me wander whether some people gravitate more towards syntactically & lexically expressing themselves in a particular way. I used to think I was stupid when I couldn't quite grasp what someone else was saying whether that be in my education or simply reading a comment on YouTube but I've since grown to understand that people simply have diverse modes of expression in part due to their own unique wiring. It's amazing what we can do with such a 'circular' meta language - ironically our cognition despite this circulatory leads to very diverse experiences and thus modes of expression even within a specific language. I think the goal is to embrace cognitive fluidity/pursue this path as an aid to understand ourselves and others better or at least more holistically.
I feel like I've walked down this path in my mind. Words are simply the organized animal grunting noises that our brains interpret into patterns, which our brains again assign value/meaning from our own individual, subjective experiences. These utterances are given priority in our mind as we explore our universe, as the sounds we make are formed with intent.
My inner 5 year old is precociously reminding me of a line of questioning I would pose myself: what does what mean? What does does mean? What does mean mean? He thought he was real clever when he thought of that.